Category: Blog

Is the coronavirus outbreak and all the anxiety surrounding taking a toll on your physical and mental health? Is the extensive lockdown coming in the way of your regular fitness routine?

Hakuna Matata! Losing a little control is very natural at such unsettling times. All of a sudden the COVID-19 outbreak and the shutting of the gym have thrown your daily health and fitness routines into disarray.

Furthermore, rationing of the necessary food items has hit your daily food habits as well. But, if social distancing and self-quarantining are being advised by governments and health-care sectors all across the globe, then so be it. We are in it together and we’ll win together!

Even if you are on a lockdown, taking good care of your health is nothing difficult. You need to eat well, get sound sleep, engage in exercise or yoga, connect with friends and family, and engage in hobbies you have almost forgotten given your busy schedule. A healthy body needs a healthy mind too.

I am sharing the tricks am following to stay fit and fine, and I hope this would help you as much as it has helped me and my family – 

• The Diet: Add Vitamin B rich veggies like spinach, broccoli, and beans, eggs, fish, and fruits like bananas in your diet. These help your brain to release dopamine & serotonin – the organic chemicals that induce happiness. Additionally, you may toss in some immunity boosters like garlic, ginger, yogurt, almonds, turmeric, papaya as well to make your diet yummier!
• The Sleep: Sound and adequate sleep will clear out the toxins from your body and repair your body cells mainly. Psychological wellbeing is a compulsion in dreadful times like this.
• The Exercise: Work out! It will reduce your stress, help you sleep better and keep you fit. Even the World Health Organization has recommended a minimum of 30 minutes of movement in a day. Engaging in any form of exercise like brisk walking, yoga, pilates, skipping, sit-ups, walking up & down your home stairs and even dance will seal the deal. 
• The Socializing: Practicing self-isolation can be dreadful sometimes and can get on to your nerves. So it is important to revive your social connections via phone calls, video calls, social media platforms and so on. Be distantly social in the wake of social distancing!
• The Hobbies: Getting hand-on with your long-lost hobbies can easily be stress-reliever. This lockdown has gifted us the opportunity of breaking the monotony and stepping aside from the rat race and engaging in activities that will help in promoting comprehensive mental health. 

Leading a healthy life and maintaining fitness might help to keep you in a better and safer position. The novel coronavirus has already spread across the world like wildfire and is spreading more as we speak and there are yet no medications or vaccines to curb this destruction. So, fitness and isolation might be the most effective weapons to the contagion currently. Let’s pledge to stick by the rules and wipe out the virus in a healthy way!

In the wake of the global pandemic surrounding the novel coronavirus, companies of all shapes and sizes are implementing a work from home policy to keep their workforce safe. This means that most of us are dealing with an unusual challenge – working from home full-time for the first time.

Even if you have previously worked from home on several occasions, mandatorily going remote and self-quarantining with a vicious virus pandemic shaking the entire world has got to be a new experience altogether. This working from home might be for an extended period where you have no freedom of stepping out of the house to socialize and drink. 

So, are you prepared for this sudden and strange shift? 

All that you need are a few tips for successfully getting the office work done from the safe confinements of your house, as well as maintaining your mental well-being.

1. Keep Fresh During the Work Hours

Some of us may just be secretly excited about the entire working from home policy. And some of us do not have to travel those long hours to the office. We can spend all day in our pajamas and sit or lie on our bed and work. It is a bad practice. It may be tempting, but it makes you slow and less productive.

So, just get up in the morning, freshen up and change your clothes. No, nothing formal. But the simple act of putting on fresh clothes sends a signal to the brain that it is time to hustle. Keeping fresh during work hours will make you feel energetic.

Just because you’re working from home does not mean nobody from work would see you. Hello? This is the future of the workplace, and you have a lot of video calls to attend! 

2. Creating an Office Space at Home

Coming to a major challenge that almost all remote workers face at one point or the other is designating a working space where the work and home lives are separate. Being able to disconnect with your work can help you boost your productivity and enables you to look after your household affairs efficiently.

Therefore, creating the physical divide between work life and family is an ardent task, but it is also a crucial one when working from home. The idea of a sperate room for work is something most small apartment dwellers scoff at, just like me. I am writing this article in my living room which also happens to be the dining room. Your workspace does not have to be a room, it may just be a corner – just like in my case. The key is to make your brain feel the physical divide!

3. Scheduling Defined Working Hours

Just like creating the physical divide, you should also be clear about your working hours. If you stick to the scheduled working hours, then you will be able to transition to and from the ‘office mode’ and perform to the best of your abilities. Moreover, if you have a collaborative role, then being on the same schedule as your coworkers or teammates will make things easier.

This hour separation is even more critical when it comes to handling your family. Assigning pre-defined working hours will help you communicate with your family members and establish boundaries so that you can successfully cut down on all sorts of distractions during the work hours. And once your work is done, you will be able to devote time to your family – a win-win situation, isn’t it?

4. Having Occasional Buffer Zones in Between Work

With the lockdown, some of you are missing the drive to your office and the fresh morning air. At least, I am terribly missing my ride to the office. Morning commute to office indeed gives you the buffer time to prepare yourself to get into the work mode. You should do the same while working from home – carving out routines to help you ease into your workday.

Read the newspaper, listen to music, spend time with your pet, exercise, or do anything that you would do on a normal day when you are in office. My point is you should spend time doing something you love in order to stay away from stress.

Similarly, at the end of the working hours do something that would signal your brain that work is finally over for the day. In my case, I have been tuning into Netflix and watching some of my favorite shows, or I have been getting my family together and watching a movie with them. This helps me destress my mind and get ready for a good sleep.

5. Don’t Get Affected by the News, and Most Importantly, Controversial Social Media Updates

Distractions are the biggest challenges of all remote workers, especially ones who are working from home for the first time due to the lockdown. You are at home now, and you will have moments of distractions – your baby running around the house playfully, your dog barking, dad watching the news at a high volume, mom asking you to throw the garbage out, wife asking you to pay the bills online, and more if not less.

Right now, the biggest distraction facing remote workers is the news and the associated updates on social media – fake news, memes, mindless comments, controversial debates, death toll, the Blame Game, etc. Because we are all working remotely due to the pandemic, checking in on the latest COVID-19 updates will be at the front of our minds. We are all anxious and concerned. Isn’t it? 

While I believe that it is good to stay informed but sucking in all the information is not required. I have been restraining myself from scrolling down the news feed and ending up in an anxious mess with all those posts that my friends are sharing every now and then. I would suggest you do the same thing I did to avoid unnecessary distractions – turning off the notifications!

In conclusion, the lockdown and the entire world being affected by a deadly virus is going to be a tough phase for us who will be working from home for the first time. But, with these few essential tips, it would be easier for you to maintain the work-life balance during these trying times. 

The global pandemic surrounding the unprecedented outbreak of the novel coronavirus has put several regions around the world in a perpetual lockdown with containment zones and isolation units treating the patients and suspects infected with the Covid-19. 

The outbreak of the virus and the fears surrounding its consequences have impacted businesses around the globe. Business leaders believe that now it is time to send the entire workforce remote to stop the outbreak, and provide facilities and required hardware so that they may be able to work safely from the secure confinements of their homes – thereby leading the entire workforce to be part of the world’s largest work-from-home experiment.

Businesses around the globe have frowned at how the noble coronavirus has locked down cities and regions. And to safeguard their workforce from facing the hazardous effects of the Covid-19, companies across the world have issued work from home to their teammates and workers.

Let us now understand how we can keep our remote workforces productive and connected throughout this deluge.

Individualizing the Workforce Engagement

The year has just begun, and things don’t seem very happy and prosperous. And with the virus outbreak, everyone is concerned as to how things would turn up in the days to come. Your workforce is just as scared and apprehensive as you or me.

In such a situation, it is very important that you talk to your workers and understand their concerns – even if they are not in front of you. Remote managing may be easier for you as a manager if you have previously invested time and effort in understanding your workers and their psyche. After going remote, some workers may feel liberated while some may sulk feeling isolated. It is important for remote managers to first understand each member of the team, and then assign tasks individually. A one-size-fits-all strategy might not work well to engage your team.

Clear Instructions and Guidance

One by one every nation is locking down and as a result, more and more businesses are going remote. All of this is happening fast. And some of these workers are completely clueless and scared.

In such a situation, you must give a clear and understandable task sheet to your team. Without understanding your expectations that are aligned with the company’s purpose, it would be difficult for your workers to be productive.

Therefore, it is important now that you create a wonderful working relationship with your coworkers and juniors by exploring the digital tools that promise to help. This is the only way you can help your team achieve the expectations set for them.

Productive Communication

The entire work from home scenario may be a completely new experience for certain workers, who may feel cut off from necessary resources and information. Therefore, it is the responsibility of remote managers to constantly chalk out plan and sit down with the team over a phone call, or even better, a video conference.

All over the world people are suffering due to the pandemic, the economy is dwindling, and everyone is in perpetual fear. Often at times, some of your teammates may feel very bogged down due to all these fears and apprehensions surrounding the virus outbreak. Also, there may be workers who are constantly driven by motivation through conversation. Therefore, you may need to add socializing in your work from home schedule and interact with your workers any one time of the day to keep them engaged and hence, more productive.

Besides, you should constantly keep mailing and posting about your expectations, intentions, and reasoning. Try keeping all the lines of communication between you and the team broad, open, and most importantly, honest.

Leading the Leaders

The sudden change in business practice and process surely impacts all levels of managers. It is to be remembered that not all these managers have the requisite experience of handling remote workers. They will be concerned about distractions and disruptions to the workflow that they are accountable for. Some of them might not be sure whether they will be able to manage workers without being in front of them, some would be unsure about workers they are unable to see in front of them.

But at the end of the day, they will have to manage their staff in a new way, and that too fast.

As a business leader, it then becomes your task to constantly motivate them, emotionally and practically, during this rather tough transition. You will have to make your managers feel that they will always get the required support from you, especially when they feel insecure themselves.

Over to the Future

According to a study, 43% of employees in the US work remotely and that remote workers are far more productive than in-house employees. The stats hint at the fact that at this juncture telework will be a blessing for you. You will need to learn fast and adapt quickly so that you may start witnessing levels of performance from certain employees that nobody ever thought before.

Reports claim that between the years 2012 and 2016, the number of remote workers grew by four percentage points.

Organizations have already begun putting remote work policies in place – primarily in the real estate, insurance, and finance industries. The percentage is increasing each day, companies will be required to proactively take part in this journey to create the digital workplace of tomorrow. 

As the novel Coronavirus outbreak spreads across the globe, the businesses are considering contingency plans to avoid any serious disruption in operations. As a result, business leaders are asking their employees to go back home with their laptops to aid in avoiding the spread of the zoonotic virus and help in preserving the health and safety of their workforce – thereby being part of the world’s largest work from home experiment.

It must be pointed here that the global work culture was slowly and steadily shifting towards digitization, where decentralized workforce and remote working would reign supreme. When it comes to remote working most of the organizations are either in a very early stage of digitization or have not even committed to invest in a full-blown digital strategy or enablement.

However, the recent global pandemic surrounding the coronavirus outbreak demands a quick adoption of digital tools to be able to cope up with the changing dynamics of work culture in recent times. Truth be told, managing remote workers is a very different ballgame when compared to managing people inside the workplace. Things that work in an office does not always work when it comes to remote workers. Let us, therefore, look at three basic strategies that will help you manage your remote workers and help them be more productive –

Trust and Communication The new reality of physically disconnected workers hints at two key issues that every organization and HR need to be aware of – trust and communication. Building trust is always a two-way process. In the new setup, the managers and the HR teams will have to start trust that the employees who have been assigned work from home are completing their tasks. Once this is in place, the employees would feel engaged and will start working continuously to maintain this trust. And to be able to develop a strong communication with your remote workforce, the HR teams and managers will need to be proactive and intentional. This means that the respective team leads will need to be proactive in safeguarding relationships with their fellow teammates and be intentional with investing time spent on phone calls, emails, and video conferencing. This would help in eliminating all sorts of confusion which typically occurs due to poor management of meetings and over-emailing.

Remote engagement From data and research to the lessons and anecdotes from market leaders, there are a wide variety of benefits if you can maintain your relationship with your team. When managing employees who are working from home owing to this pandemic, it is always easy to get a plan in place, get on a call, disburse the assignments/tasks and start working. As a manager who is remotely handling workers, you must maintain the rapport that you share with them, even if they are not in front of you. This rapport and the trust you show them for their working would help you keep your teammates aligned with you and the project. Research data shows that most the of human communication inside an office space is nonverbal. Once the remote working begins and you don’t see your teammates around, it becomes imperative for remote managers to understand the reactions and emotions of their teammates – whether it be determining their reaction to a change in a plan or their overall mood. A video conferencing tool like Skype, Google Hangouts, or Zoom, might prove beneficial during such trying times. You must trust your instincts and gauge that something might be wrong. The nonverbal clues that you might happen to capture during video conferencing with a teammate or the entire team should be opportunities to fix problems, big or small – thereby, boosting the team morale and overall productivity.

Remote Digital Access Before you allow your team to go remote, it is very important to provide secure access to IT resources with the help of your internet provider or virtual private network (VPN). You will have to pay special attention to every piece of the connected tech stack that your teammates will be using – right from the availability of the internet connection and accessibility to providing a safe and secure way to reach corporate data, applications, networks, and communication channels. You need to bear in mind that not all your workers will have access to a fast and reliable internet service; some might just have access to only mobile internet, especially ones who live in rural areas. Therefore, a quick survey among your workers who will be part of the remote work strategy and close these connectivity gaps. You will need to invest in dongles and associated data plans from internet providers or provide stipends to those who can establish a secure internet connection at home, or just upgrade the existing plan.

Another critical point of concern for most big tech companies is determining how much bandwidth is required for individual workers who would be required to sync a lot of data and files. For certain industries, this would mean a lot of heavy and confidential documents and media files have to go back and forth. So, providing a fast and reliable connection is a mandate. With the right internet connection in place, there are two ways in which business leaders can function –

1. Let workers use their own devices, which will be cost-effective and easy to deploy given the specs of the device they use
2. You can provide devices to the employees assigned the remote work strategy during this insurgency

The first option demands a strong IT compliance standard so that no confidential business information falls into the wrong hands. In the case of the second option, organizations may rent or lease devices as appropriate to bring down the cost and take suitable measures to be able to safeguard all levels of business information. Let us quickly skim through the list of devices that your workers will need when they start working remotely. This includes a laptop (in some cases a personal computer), a smartphone with a good network, internet access hardware, and a properly configured VPN. There may be some more additional devices that may be required like a webcam or a high-quality headset and headphone with mic, etc. that will be specific to your business needs. To conclude, these 3 basic pointers must be kept in mind when your company is forced to adopt a remote working strategy. These will ensure that your workforce and your remote managing skills are top-notch all the while you stay safe from the Covid-19 outbreak. NexAEI is a digital workplace solution that is helping organizations adopt the idea of the future of work and create smart, intuitive, and agile workplaces of the next generation.

Generally referred to as the front desk or the front office, the office reception forms a critical touchpoint for visitors and guests coming in. Right from the backdrop to the furniture and the lighting the front desks are carefully designed and a lot of investments go in to create that first impression. 

Do you think that’s all it takes? No.

Even with state-of-the-art furniture crafted from the finest quality wood to extremely classy lightings many large enterprises fail to provide a premium visitor experience due to manual handling of visitor records using outdated techniques – a soiled visitor logbook and a ballpoint pen. This lack of automated software for efficient registration and maintenance of visitor records can be costly to your brand’s image. 

The importance of implementing an efficient and smart visitor management system is known to all, and there are several such systems and software available in the market today. However, before you deploy any such system at your front office it is important to understand the common problems every reception area is affected by and the ways in which you may find the right software.

We have gone through surveys and reports and have found out three of the most common yet critical problems that immobilize the front office operations. To further delight you and make this piece of content more relevant, we will be sharing a premium visitor management solution at the end of this blog. 

Problem 1: Messing up the Brand Image

Let us understand the problem by imagining a situation where your visitor is standing in front of a visitor logbook scribbling his details at the bottom of a long visitors list. Then he is required to show his IDs, have his photos taken and wait till his visitor pass is printed out and handed to him. 

This is a major flaw in the traditional visitor registration process that instantly makes the guest offended. Owing to it being a regular practice, it often misses out being an important priority. But, it is.

However, you can avoid annoying your guests by simply installing a smart visitor management system at your front office. Your guest will walk up to a self-servicing mobile application, register his details and mentioning the purpose of his visit, and the host he wants to meet. The host will be notified about the meeting request via an email, an IVR call or an SMS. Upon receiving an alert the host will take out his phone and accept, reject, or forward the meeting after reviewing the information sent from the front desk kiosk. Hence, a smart visitor management software helps in streamlining the entire process from visitor check-in and check-out, as well as give a refreshing experience to your visitors or guests.

Problem 2: Security concerns for office facilities 

The information entered by your visitor in the visitor logbook is neither validated nor secured. This means that the information can be counterfeit since there is no verification system in place. There are also chances of the information getting stolen by the next set of visitors visiting your office – thereby data security of your organization is compromised.

You can fix this problem with a visitor management technology which verifies the information entered by sending an OTP on his/her registered phone number. With this smart visitor management software, you can collect visitor information and store it in a centralized database for easy retrieval at any given time and from any location. Thereafter, upon his next visit, he is just required to give his registered mobile number or he can scan his QR code, and step into your office. This is because all his details will be made available to the front desk executive by the system – thereby saving time and forgetting unwanted queues.

Problem 3: Time consuming

Let us also understand the concerns from the visitor perspective now.

Waiting in queue, dealing with front desk security, fumbling with a visitor register or logbook, producing IDs and waiting for the approval consume much of your visitor’s precious time. Some of them may be delivery guys who have a huge delivery list that day.

What you can do is automate and streamline the entire check-in and check- out process with an advanced registration system. So, no more waiting, no queues, and smooth execution!

With the digital revolution right around the corner, it is now time that you replace your dull paper logbook and manual process with a smart visitor management software that will help you to get rid of these common and useless problems that are making your front office look shabby in performance.

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Rapid digitization around the world is changing the nature of work and the experience of the workplace. Reports suggest that by the end of the year, millennials would form 50% of the global workforce. This new generation of professionals prefers multi-tasking and love staying connected through modern apps. These young minds and their disruptive ideas promise to have a great impact on the workplaces of the future.

Organizations who boast of having a futuristic vision have already begun substituting old-school and traditional ways of doing things with new-age technology – artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, workplace sensors, etc.

In light of this, most of these large-scale enterprises are initiating digitization right from the front desk. They are rethinking traditional visitor management techniques that involved a redundant pen-and-paper process and are shifting to more advanced solutions for increasing efficiency and strengthening the security standards. The front desks of organizations form the first touchpoint for any visitor and are responsible for the security of data, people, and facilities.

Leveraging the Right Technology for the Right Job

Today’s fast-evolving technologies are changing the nature of work, dynamics of the workforce, and the notion of the workplace. Owing to this change the modern workforce is empowered to take up more responsibilities and become more productive. By going digital you can minimize the need to perform soul-destroying and repetitive tasks manually – thereby, managing your time efficiently. So, automation is key to increasing efficiency and reducing human errors.

Therefore, by introducing an automated cloud-based visitor management system at your front desk you are lessening the burden of the receptionists and allowing them to perform other important tasks.

The solution then is a self-serving application where a visitor can register himself by taking a little help from the front-desk executive if at all required. There is a possibility that the visitor visiting your office is not acquainted with English, so having a multi-lingual feature is an added advantage. One such smart visitor management application not only redefines the visitor experience but also disburdens the receptionist or the front office executive.

Rethinking Meeting Schedules and Smart Actions

Scheduling a meeting with a premium guest is an ad hoc responsibility of a front office executive. Numerous phone calls with follow up emails, and the intense pressure of getting the meeting scheduled, often take a toll on the professional. 

A robust and digital visitor management system helps you schedule a meeting with the visitor and send in the meeting details in the format of a mail or simply an SMS. Upon receiving an alert the smart visitor management system allows the host to take smart action after reviewing the purpose of the meet right from the mobile app. This not only makes the process of scheduling meetings efficient but also helps you to build on the experience of the visitor. 

Re-envisioning Visitor Experience

Your reception area is the first point of contact for any visitor/s coming into your office. It plays a crucial part in creating a positive impression of your business and the brand. Therefore, by replacing your age-old outdated visitor management methods with a smart visitor management system you can create a lasting impression. 

An ideal digital visitor management system allows your visitors or guests to register themselves the first time with all the mandatory details. A verification process is carried out for validating contact details of the concerned individual which may be used later when they visit again. The detailed information from such systems is usually stored in a centralized database so that it may be retrieved at any given time from any location.

To sum it up, a visitor management system should have the following – 

1. Cloud-based mobile platform
2. Data validation procedures
3. Centralized database
4. Smart actions, and
5. Multilingual support

Without all of these in place, a reception can never be completely digitized. And without a digital transformation starting right from your front office, you would never really be able to start your journey to the digital workplace of the future.

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Global enterprises are realizing the importance of securing their data, people, and facilities. The emerging security concerns in the world today are forcing us to move beyond paper logbooks as well as simple access management software/applications. Modern security needs are undoubtedly more complex for old school security techniques, and therefore, we need something more advanced and in tune with the current needs.

Integrating security with everyday operations is a primary need today for most organizations owing to the recent increase in threats of data breaches, property damage, physical threat, and so much more. Therefore, the implementation of a robust security culture in your business is important, with an easy to access digital visitor record being the starting point!

Let us look at 4 key trends that will help to reshape visitor management practices in 2020:

The Cloud Approach

Recent developments in cloud computing have been a major disruptor in the technology domain that has increased the reliance on how data can be stored, formatted, and analyzed. As for visitor management systems, cloud computing promises of offering a secure and optimized platform for the visitors, the host, and the admin. This new decade, cloud computing is all set to throw light on new trends that will be the foundation of disruptive innovation.

It must be mentioned here that all organizations are already running most of their workloads on the cloud, however, the understanding about securing the cloud is blurry. This makes security only but an afterthought with cloud deployments owing to traditional security measures may inhibit the agility of a business.

Today, leading security solutions are trying to align themselves with the new paradigm of cloud-based and flexible architectures that deliver effective security services at great speed. We need to remember that increasing reliance on public cloud infrastructure might be risky as there are chances of an outage. This means that companies would be looking at their existing data center/s and cloud deployments. They may also consider hybrid environments that comprise both public and private clouds.

Cloud services that are hosted and managed using the likes of AWS RDS, would be more safe and secure, and promises that your company data will be maintained in a safe and secure way. Moreover, these service providers would promise comprehensive protection against loss of data and downtime.

Improved Analytics and Insights

Analytics has always been a crucial game-changer for organizations. The trend will remain the same in the future as all major tech companies have finally figured out that data will be ruling the future, and more importantly, the real-time processing of it.

Replacing a manual visitor logbook with a digital visitor management software means that you do not just remove human intervention, but also obtain clean and insightful visitor information which is stored for all future use. By analyzing the available analytics, visitor/security management service providers are then able to offer extensive data reports for highlighting all the necessary visitor trends to their clients.

A proper report enables you to ascertain the reason for a visitor to send in a meeting request, and improve any on-site visitor management including any meetings, events, etc.

Development and Integrations

All the leading visitor management solutions that are available in the market have a host of impressive features to address the needs of an organization pertaining to managing their visitors and guests. It is based on the premium features that a brand offers, that organizations find it easy to pick and choose a VMS.

Facial recognition which had been only a part of sci-fi movies has become a reality today with more and more brands integrating it with their products. With this advanced AI biometric technology, check-in processes become easier and more effective, along with improved workflows in your reception desks. The solution improves the visitor experience for those who visit regularly.

Focusing on User and Customer Experience

We are all aware of the fact that successful digital transformation is dependent on user and customer experience (UX/CX). And, this same emphasis will be driving the business investments for digital transformation.

Digital visitor management features such as real-time notifications and custom workflows will help organizations identify priority visitors/guests and improve on their experience. It needs to be kept in mind that you should invest in a user-focused visitor management system in order to be able to showcase your company’s commitment to delivering your guests with a best-in-class experience.

With the help of an automated visitor management system, you can be able to print customized badges, check-in using QR codes, track visitors on your site, and send out meeting invites to premium guests. This not just ensures hassle-free visitor management but also promises that you fortify the security compliance standards of your organization.

In conclusion, all we have to say is that upgrading your visitor management systems not only digitally revolutionizes the front desk of your office, but also ensures that your employees can work effectively. A cloud-based visitor management software is focused on the future and is a scalable solution that helps you manage your visitors, guests, contractors, and events from one location. So you just need to look out for these four key trends when you are thinking of leveraging a next-generation visitor management service that would help you make your front office look smart!

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Today’s reality is that we live in an era of constant change and innovation – something that is also disrupting the HR space. It is indeed a tedious job for HR to constantly try and keep up with the technological advancements and trends all the while trying to manage their daily work. Speaking of trends to watch out for in 2020, there are a number of these featured in headlines, blogs, and annual trend reports; and what we found out was that they are vastly diverse – sometimes confusing! So, to help you, we have summarized our findings based on our extensive research and have them listed here for your convenient reading. But before we begin, let us break this to you that you might find some of these trends to be quite familiar. And so, we will also be attempting to provide clarity into the best possible way to approach these trends and how they will go on to help you and your organization. In other words, we’ll try and give you an overview of all the current developments and provide practical examples of what they mean to you as an HR professional. So, without further ado, let’s get started…

The Future of ‘Human Resources’

The latest developments and trends in the field of HR have consciously and unconsciously impacted the use of the term ‘Human Resources’ or HR itself – the term should be better aligned with the kind of work that they do. As such, the term ‘Human Resources’ might objectify employees as resources or machinery! Certain companies who keep ‘humanity’ as the core component of HR processes are substituting the term with People & Culture, People’s Operations, Happiness Officers, etc. These sorts of changes reflect how the nature of HRDs are changing and should very well be adopted by you. N.B.: Be careful not to use any fancy terms just for the sake of it. Make it more aligned with the nature of your HR department for the best results!

HR Analytics and Data Usage

HR analytics is not a new trend neither can it be regarded as an unknown concept. With the help of HR analytics, professionals can analyze the data they get in order to use it later to achieve useful insights. This ensures that the decision-making in your company is not based on gut feeling or intuition, rather it is driven by objective data! Every HR knows what this means, however, not every one of them is able to put analytic tools to proper use. According to a leading survey of 2018, 84% of the participants viewed people analytics to be extremely important. The survey further laid claim that 69% of the organizations are working towards developing advanced and integrated systems in order to better analyze employee data. The right combination of employee data from intelligent analytics tools leads to a better working environment for employees and better profits for the organization. Another good use of accurate employee data is analyzing why are your employees not sticking around long – or even accurately predict when is it that they are most likely to leave – and solve the churn rate through an actionable solution.

The Upcoming Technologies

In modern businesses, the most valuable development initiative requires a strong foundation – technology! The technology landscape is ever-changing – new infrastructure, systems, and tools are being developed and/or released as you are reading this blog! We have found two of the most important technologies that every HR professional must be aware of –

1. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Let us now help you understand why these two technologies are important for HR. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Technically speaking, RPA tools power and support the data-driven processes of an organization. By configuring software or a robot, companies will be able to automatically interpret applications for efficient processing of a transaction, manipulating of data, communicating within other systems of the digital ecosystem, and triggering of actionable outcomes. For HR professionals, the automation of RPA enables them to focus on their core functionalities and not be bogged down by ad hoc duties. For instance, during a recruitment process HR can say goodbye to anything manual – updating of employee information after every new hire, creating a fresh employee record, gathering of employee documentation. With effective communication between different software systems, advanced RPA tools will surely be beneficial for double-checking HR compliance. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Experts are of the opinion that AI and its impossible feats will be responsible for driving the next industrial revolution. And, we are all aware that this is inevitable. The ability of AI to create intelligent machines that work and respond like humans by mimicking human cognition does go on to mean that manual work is a waste of time. The use of AI in HR processes is not slated to transform HR in the future. It is already a reality now! According to a report, the HR is usually seen to be a step behind in the digital transformation journey and this is where AI would enable them to catch up efficiently! AI promises to get rid of repetitive tasks, streamline talent searching, cut down the attrition, and build up the employee engagement. HR will be able to help re-imagine the work experience with the help of algorithms that can train themselves without needing much of human intervention. When speaking about AI, it is important to keep in mind the fact that automation and analytics are not part of AI. What we have found that several processes in HR that are labeled as AI are in fact automated processes. You need to keep in mind that true AI can do something far beyond for which it was coded. This means that the applications that leverage AI are bound to be expensive, and will be helping you ‘smartly’ define the future of your workplace.

The Rise of Millennials and the Concept of New Work

The delusion surrounding the fact that the implementation of new technologies will be taking away our jobs is just a bad joke! Rather, the rightful use of new and advanced technologies will mean that we will be able to free our time and perform other engaging tasks. The same can be said about the HR. The working life is ever-evolving, and at times it may get tricky to keep a track of it. For instance, the term new work does not just imply a singular phenomenon but describes a set of interconnected trends and developments. And part of this set of trends is the rise of the millennials. The fact is that millennials are the main drivers of positive change today. They have been born in the digital age and have been shaped out of technological advancements – and hence, they know the value of digitalization in all its forms. This means that millennials shape how work can be done in fresh ways. Millennials now form a majority of the global workforce, and hence, they are not just a theoretical concept or a trend anymore! They are here and are redefining how work may be done by enhancing flexibility, communication, and values in every organization. The concept of new work also calls for new leadership that promotes empowerment, agile processes, self-management, teamwork, and dynamic working environment, and more. Concluding Thoughts This decade will witness employees thrive in the predicted economy and will be showcasing a do-it-yourself attitude. Very soon the traditional 9-5 jobs will be replaced by contract-based specialists. The HR professionals and heads will face the challenge of hiring project managers who would handle critical projects involving millennials. As the digital world overlaps the real world, workers will be required to stretch their skills as and when the need arises and will be expected to self-manage themselves by collecting and using their data to be able to support their efforts. On the face of it, technology is indeed a valuable addition to the HR, but fruitful results can only be reaped if you can maintain the delicate balance between humanity and technology. So, before introducing ground-breaking technologies or workflows, it is important for you to have a solid foundation first. No matter what the predictions are, you will have to be part of the smart journey to the future workplace in order to achieve it.

It is not a new revelation that handling payroll processing is a real pain for Human Resource (HR) and Finance teams in any organization. Salary processing is all about mountains of paperwork accompanied by extensive manual intervention and long boring processing hours – be it payroll management, employee on-boarding and/or leave management. Surprisingly, a report reveals that more than 11% of HR professionals are completely relying on manual payroll processing.

HR processes have and are undergoing vast strides of development as and when we speak today. Technological developments like Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are overhauling how the HR function now. In today’s digital age, more and more companies are leveraging RPA to increase the efficiency of all their data-driven processes.

Modern businesses need a payroll system integrated with their existing legacy systems for easy data validation and fortifying payroll compliance – thereby enabling a better employee experience at zero error!

Let us now shift our attention to understanding the unwanted pain of payroll processing and trends to follow in order to mitigate the challenges by automating the Herculean tasks of HR professionals – paperwork, scheduling, and attendance management.

Efficient Data Validation is No Myth!

Collating all the data required for payroll processing has been one of the most time-consuming aspects of employee payroll processing. Just recollect the tiring hours you spent to check those never-ending spreadsheets manually, verifying that the information to be processed is correct and up-to-date, and then manually checking whether the result is correct. Phew!

But now with an automatic data validation process, you can easily set up the payroll system according to your unique specifications of organizations. All you need to do is enter your company policies on attendance, leave, and shift and then just sit back and watch the system do the calculations for you!

Smart and Centralized Storage Coupled With a Simple UI

You no longer require managing multiple spreadsheets with an automated payroll system. The new system boasts a clean user interface and design enabling easy navigation and efficient workflow. Since all that data is stored in a single location, you can easily access and save all payroll-related data, and also archive them for later use. The UI should be such that HR professionals responsible for payroll processing will be able to update the system themselves!

Goodbye Human Intervention!!

All those organizations that are still sticking to conventional payroll system just because they are afraid of venturing out of their little archaic comfort zone are all frustrated that is accompanied by manual interventions. By automating salary processing, HR professionals will get a fresh lease of life and can take part in critical business decision-making. The system should be such that HR professionals can make changes directly in the system.

Managing Tasks Manually… Really??

With manual consolidation of tasks, the HR team is still grappling with the payroll system with which the journey to smart HR is a distant dream. It is time that you should implement an automatic payroll system in your organization. Automated payroll systems will gear your organization towards keeping track of accruals such as sick pay, vacation and more, depending on your company policies. This automatic process not only helps companies but also employees in enjoying a smooth payroll experience.

Somebody once said, ‘Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today’. Putting the old saying into real-life practice is really challenging especially when HR departments need to handle stacking piles of employee records, making reports, and managing the payroll. In such a situation, implementing an automated system could be the only possible way to unload the burden and save time and effort that is unnecessarily spent on high-volume but low-value activities.

Honestly speaking, the adoption of an automated payroll system is just a waystation on the journey to become a smart HR in a smart workplace. Therefore, it is necessary to embrace an end-to-end payroll solution that will help you to begin the journey to being a smart HR.

By now it is clear that the need of a smart office is imperative. With an intelligent workspace in place, work becomes more fun and engaging. When technology empowers the workstyle, employees get more time to create and give it their best. Flexibility and mobility are key to modern business processes that would a far more dynamic work environment. Technology is stealthily creeping into business functions – mostly the way communication and work is done in offices. Today, more and more organizations have started relying on digital tools like work management platforms instead of traditional emails – which have proved beneficial for HR who prefer working smartly!

Redefining the concept of the ‘office’ as we know it today

The astonishing rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, and artificial intelligence have given rise to a plethora of sensory technologies around the globe today. Modern communication tools have revolutionized workplace productivity – thereby allowing an employee to stymie his own productivity. With smart communication devices enabling workers from various teams to come together and work in unison – modern offices are giving rise to ideas and creativity hitherto unseen.

Recently, the HRDs have undergone dynamic shifts in their roles, functions, and overall reshaping of organizations. Without a doubt, a huge cloud of uncertainty does prevail in the minds of HR experts across the world owing to this inevitable and relentless change, and how would they implement this transformation in their organizations. These changes are also bringing about a major transformation in the role of an HR.

Various researches over the years have highlighted the abysmal level of employee engagement quotient of any given organization. There are numerous evidences that highlight the direct impact of heightened employee engagement on exponential business growth. Owing to this freshly found interest in emphasizing on employee experience, strategic HR is ready to make a good investment in implementing advanced HR technologies to help them to reimagine the employee lifecycle. Let’s see how.

A streamlined onboarding process is the fundamental responsibility of the respective HR. With the implementation of smart technology, HR can furnish an all-new level of employee experience. Automating the entire onboarding process of the employees contribute to the productivity of the HR, thereby providing them with an opportunity to understand the real challenges of productivity and deliver effective results.

Once onboarded, the next important thing that directly or indirectly affects the employee life cycle is the payroll. The payroll processing in any organization is dependent on

• total days present
• total days absent
• net leave balance and LWP count
• additional pay

With the help of automated software and smart devices, the entire payroll processing using the above four variable data points becomes organized and smooth. The need of the hour for HR is an advanced software that centralizes attendance data, automates policies, and delivers consolidated reports. This is a very critical step that determines how the future of your smart workplace will look like, as it will be helping HR redefine their job role and come out of the siloes – helping them transform into a strategic HR!