sharlynlaubyToday's guest post is courtesy of Sharlyn Lauby, better known as the HR Bartender.

Earlier this summer, Kronos recognized several companies in its annual Innovator Awards. The Kronos Innovator Awards were created to acknowledge partners that have created innovative solutions to effectively manage their workforce. You can read more about this year's winners here.

It got me thinking. What does it take to create an innovative culture? A culture that would be recognized for its unique solutions. Then I read a book that helped me discover the answer. In the book “Innovation Training” by Ruth Ann Hattori and Joyce Wycoff (ASTD Press), the authors discuss what it takes to create an innovative culture. They identify four key components.

Organizational Values - We all know what values are, right? They're the competencies the organization identifies as being essential to fulfilling the mission of the business. Innovative companies have values that are really values. Not just words on a card for show purposes. These companies create values so they can hire employees who can embrace those ideals. They train to those values and evaluate performance based on those values.

Employee Accountability - Hattori and Wycoff call this “people - the source of innovation” but I think it's more than just the existence of employees. It's about holding people accountable for living the organization's values. Being held accountable for organizational values is key to creating an innovative culture.

Leadership Support - Nothing of significance will materialize if company leadership doesn't support it. You can't pressure or micro-manage people to innovate. Leaders must be supportive both of the individual and the values they've established. Then let people do their best work.

Learning Mindset - The book defines this as “innovation values”. Okay, I get their point; but I do sometimes find it challenging to use the word innovation in a definition about innovative culture. Basically, this component is about letting people learn. Because innovation happens when learning happens. Inside formal training. Outside during informal conversations. Innovation occurs when someone asks if they can continue to work on something because “they can't let it go yet”. It takes place over drinks after work. Learning and innovation happen anywhere and everywhere when we let it.

When I thought about this year's Kronos award winners, I thought about the innovative cultures they must have created to achieve great results. Make no mistake, these are companies focused on the bottom-line. But delivering excellent products and services, being profitable and maintaining an innovative culture are not mutually exclusive.

What do you think are the components of an innovative culture? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Today's guest post is courtesy of Sharlyn Lauby, better known as the HR Bartender. Sharlyn, William Tincup and I recently published this podcast about the growth of mobile devices in workforce management. In today's post, Sharlyn expands on her recommendations to organizational leaders who are considering the adoption of mobile devices.  Read on and let us know - are there other factors to be considered?

According to mobiThinking, cellular subscriptions worldwide are at 6 billion. Yes, that's billion. Companies are making significant revenue from mobile devices. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, was quoted saying that “customers around the word have ordered more than $1billion USD of products from Amazon using a mobile device.” eBay has seen people purchase more than $5 billion in goods using their mobile. PayPal - $7 billion.

When that much money is changing hands over mobile devices, marketing departments take notice. And human resources needs to realize that attempts to ban mobile device usage in the workplace could be met with a whole lot of resistance. Perhaps for good reason. So maybe it's time to consider drafting some guidelines on the responsible use of mobile devices in the workplace.  If you do, here are a handful of things to consider:

Ownership: From a company perspective, it sounds wonderful to have employees own their equipment. The concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has its benefits. But it also raises some questions about who is financially responsible for equipment maintenance and what happens if the equipment is lost or stolen. Another consideration if employees are expected to use their own equipment, is what are defined reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses when it comes to home wireless routers, aircards, apps, etc?

Compatibility: The great part of allowing employees to use their own equipment is they know how to use it. This translates into greater productivity. The challenge internally becomes how to make sure all these different devices are compatible with existing company systems. Businesses might not be gaining any advantages if they have to create lots of workarounds to accommodate different devices.

Network Access: Employees need to know what information they can access and from where. There will be information that's acceptable to access on public WiFi and other data that should not. Define the protocols for proper WiFi access.

Security: Training should be conducted to remind employees about confidential and proprietary information. Maybe certain types of work cannot be done in public places, such as coffee shops.  Along with basic technology security like how to create good passwords.

Terms and Agreements: Outlining the procedure for an employee resignation, termination or layoff on the front end can avoid confusion and misunderstandings later. Discuss the consequences when an employee violates the mobile guidelines. Is the company prepared to revoke the privilege if the policy is abused multiple times? Would the organization ever fire someone over egregious abuse of using a mobile device for work?

Keep in mind that any policy should be driven by your corporate culture and organizational goals. There are lots of right answers when it comes to using mobile devices at work. Discussing the options will create a better outcome. Be prepared to think of everything - even if you hope it won't happen.

I know in human resources we're often accused of creating too many policies. But giving employees some valuable guidance on the best way to use their mobile devices will help both the employee and the company. This is one of those times when it's best to share what “should be done” versus “what not to do”.

Should organizations give employees mobile device guidelines?  If so, is there anything else you would add to the list?

Last week, I spoke with our board members Sharlyn Lauby (aka the HR Bartender) and William Tincup (so many aliases, I don't know where to start) about the future of mobile workforce management.  At Kronos, we've invested in smartphone and tablet solutions that enable managers and employees to take action on common tasks like punching in and out, scheduling shifts, approving  timecards, and the like.  Frontline managers are thereby freed to "manage in the moment" while going about their daily routines, untethered from their office computers.

We're seeing rapid adoption of mobile technologies at Kronos and in the world at large.  As consumers become more wedded to the conveniences of mobile devices for communication and entertainment, they increasingly expect to experience similar conveniences in the workplace.

We talked about the following questions that are top of mind for organizations using (or thinking about using) mobile technology to extend their workforce management environment:

You can listen in on our discussion here:

Are you using mobile technology on the job?  What are the pros and cons?

Today's guest post is courtesy of Sharlyn Lauby, The HR Bartender.  I met Sharlyn at KronosWorks last week in Las Vegas, where we had the opportunity to get to know each other a bit.  As Sharlyn notes below, and we've written about before, absenteeism is a significant and costly business issue around the globe.

During last week's KronosWorks2012 event, I had the opportunity to hear the latest data on absenteeism in the government and education sectors.  The data, presented by the Governing Institute and Center for Digital Education, puts the cost of public sector absenteeism in the billions (yes, that's billions with a “b”).

And part of that cost isn't just the benefits paid or the lost productivity. It's the cost of actually keeping track of employee absences. The Governing Institute and Center for Digital Education says that 52% of organizations rely upon a manual time and attendance system. They figure the average manager spends 1.5 hours per week focused on managing time and attendance.

Using that 1.5 number, let's say the average manager makes $20/hour. That means the estimated national annual cost for managing absenteeism (just the managing part) comes to over $880 million in the government sector and close to $2 billion in the education sector. I don't need to tell anyone that's a lot of money.

But as I was listening to the session, it occurred to me that the challenges with absenteeism in the public sector aren't exclusive to their industry. They're evident in every industry. For example, take my background in hospitality…managers were always dealing with an employee absenteeism issue. Now magnify that to the ten or twenty managers in the company. We'd have ten or twenty absenteeism issues. All costing the company money.

To illustrate my point, I wanted to do some more digging on the subject and ran across The Kronos Global Absence survey. If you haven't seen it, I hope you'll check it out. It confirmed that absenteeism is a global issue and shared the extent we're all in this together.

For example, the country with the largest percentage of employees calling in sick when they're really not is, of course, China at 71%. It only makes sense since the population is so large. But that really doesn't explain Australia with 58%, Canada with 52% and the United Kingdom with 43%. BTW - the United States came in at 52%. The best country? France at 16%.

Why do employees call in sick when they're not? Top reasons include stress and too much work.

What would prevent them for calling in sick?! You guessed it - flexible work schedules.

So we can see the direct path between flexible work, engagement and productivity. The absenteeism challenge extends far beyond one industry and one country. And the solutions are consistent between industries and countries as well.

If you're wondering about the time spent tracking time and attendance, the numbers appear consistent. Only half of employers are using an automated system. That means managers spend a lot of time manually monitoring their employee's time.

It makes me wonder. If companies are having challenges with employee absenteeism. And the answer is creating a more engaged workforce to increase productivity. Then it only seems logical to make sure that managers spend their time on activities that will create engagement (not on administrative tasks).

Fixing absenteeism is a manager's problem. But they can't fix it if they're bogged down in administrivia. Free up managers time so they can do what brings the most value to the organization.

What do managers do at your organization to manage unplanned absenteeism?

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