Challenge
The client a very large employer, had the constant challenge of adequately managing thousands of instances of absence with-out leave, late shift arrivals and leaving early from a shift on any given work day. Staff had to manually collate the information from the time and attendance system and then provide this information to each manager and shift supervisor, for follow up action.
Not only was this a very onerous and time-consuming exercise, the sheer volume of cases made it virtually impossible to complete the exercise on the day the wrongdoing occurred, causing constant backlogs and limited disciplinary actions being carried-out. The managers and shift supervisors also did not have the time to prepare the necessary disciplinary documentation and carry out the procedures required.
The result was that over 90% of the employees who were involved in timekeeping issues and hence not adhering to company working hours regulations, were not being disciplined appropriately. Corrective actions were not implemented to discourage this negative and costly trend in the business. The estimated costs of such non-compliance by staff amounted to wasted millions.
The sheer volume of instances inundated managers and shift supervisors into costly non-action.
Solution
The erNavigator auto case start feature allows for the starting of a case on the system via an external trigger. In this instance the trigger was a predefined circumstance recorded on the company time & attendance system.
When an instance of absence without leave, late shift arrivals or leaving early from a shift was recorded on the time & attendance system, the erNavigator trigger mechanism automatically started a disciplinary case on the system against the applicable employee and placed that case in their managers or shift supervisor’s to-do list of cases, simultaneously notifying them via email.
The business rules functionality within the erNavigator system automatically determined the type of disciplinary action that would be necessary considering the company policies and the employee’s disciplinary record.
Managers and Shift Supervisors are now fully aware of all instances and have a very simple on-line process to issue warnings, including the automatic and immediate generation of appropriate documentation. The employee’s disciplinary history is immediately and automatically updated on the system and targeted reports are directed to appropriate levels of management for action.
The erNavigator platform stores the client’s case data including all the relevant documentation, forms and evidence in an electronic accessible case file. Each case is uniquely referenced and classified in applicable statuses depending on its process stage. The, client has an electronic labour & employee relations file for each employee.
The platform now allows for consolidated real time reporting. The robust reporting and BI tools provide executives and managers insight into real time statistics, trends, activity including exceptions and variances.
Results
The improvements were almost immediately realized across the entire organisation. All instances of time keeping breaches were immediately accounted for and recorded on the system, the appropriate company officials were also notified. A direct link between cause and action was established and like cases were dealt with consistently prompting fairness. Proactive actions to discourage the negative effect of time keeping issues was immediately reinforced by the system functionality. Managers and Shift Supervisors are now prompted on-line to follow compliant processes and have direct insight into their employee’s time-keeping issues. The company labour & employee relations practitioners are now also made aware of cases timeously and the information delivered is precise and accurate, evidence is available and correct policy and procedures have been followed. All exceptions are fully documented and communicated.
The system has alleviated all logistical issues of dealing with the high volume of cases, no matter who is involved, what the case is about or where parties are located, the processes are unaffected, and quality and fairness and consistency is always maintained. Previous problems that were encountered such as the backlog of cases and no actions taken are a thing of the past.
Reporting is available at the click of a button. These are generated by a simple click providing invaluable data on demand to those who require it.
The client has a comprehensive enterprise wide framework to deal with all time keeping issues and instances have reduced by more than 50%. Cost savings have amounted to millions achieving a positive return on investment within 30 days.
“erNavigator has uniquely assisted us to take control of major timekeeping problems across all our shifts and the effect of sheer volumes of cases have been negated with their incredible platform.”
