You are probably reading this blog because you may have decided to or may be considering to deploy technology for your attendance and human resource (HR) administrative tasks. But before you go any step further, it’s a good idea to create an exhaustive list of what ‘should’ be there in the tool you choose.

What should the right e-attendance tool have?

There is a flurry of products in the market. All of them claiming to be the perfect HR management tool for your business. But whether it’s the one you should go for depends on a solid and clear vision of what an ideal HR administrative tool should be able to do for you. This is what we call a checklist.

So here is what a good e-attendance system would have:

  1. The ‘E’ in E-attendance: No matter how awesome the solution sounds, it would eventually end in the dust if it is not creating a contactless and automated environment for managing employee/visitor presence. The solution should be robust enough and easily configurable to work in geographically dispersed locations. It should be compatible with the network, bandwidth, and device scenario of most locations. That is the most staple part of any e-attendance system. Everything else depends on this core strength.
  2. Cloud flexibility: Today, almost every enterprise process is wrapped in some form of cloud model. A good solution can bring in impressive flexibility, elasticity, and cost advantages when it is served on a cloud setup. So make sure you opt for cloud-friendly solutions, because that’s where you will have a seamless and cross-location experience with the attendance system.
  3. Scalability: If you invest in one office and 20 devices today, and the solution works splendidly, great! But what if it falters or sputters problems the moment you increase the number of devices or locations? A reliable solution is one where any kind of scale-up or scale-down need is addressed in a smooth and well-integrated manner.
  4. Visibility: The tool should be fluent in giving decision-makers and HR teams the right dashboards views at the right time. The purpose of e-attendance is not just to put an administrative function on the margin. It should also be easily monitored and managed from a central console or a team’s war room.
  5. Extra-Buddies: Staqo Presence, an e-attendance tool by Staqo, shines here because it is much more than attendance. It weaves in many other technologies like facial recognition, AI-enabled image analytics, geo-tagging, and algorithms in a smooth manner. Various use-cases and analytics can be pulled out of a simple solution by adding any of these features in a swift and cost-effective way.
  6. Human-Centricity: Technology works, but in conjunction and with collaborative powers of intuitive intelligence. Staqo’s solution stands out on its user-friendliness, frictionless simplicity, and seamlessness. They allow the human factor to work simultaneously. They augment the instinct and experience of human managers. It is not a technology vs. human scenario with Staqo’s tools in action. These tools are simple and fluid to work with human executives. They multiply the competence and value that a human brings to the desk.
  7. Accuracy: The real-time element and rigor of these tools are sufficient to ensure the utmost precision of information. These aspects go a long way when it comes to translating attendance-related metrics to leave management, appraisals, promotions, development interventions, and compensation planning. They are also very useful for the compliance needs of an organization. It is easy to create digestible reports and regulatory documentation with the information collected through these tools. This aspect helps to mitigate delays, corruption, frauds, gaps, and grievances in the entire process.
  8. Employee-friendly: Why would an employee let go of the comfort of a card that can be punched in and out? Why would s/he prefer this system over a bio-metric thumbprint? Simple, only if the tool in question allows them complete ease. The solution has to be utterly easy to use and quite frictionless in experience. Again, a facet that Staqo prides itself in ensuring well. There is no need for employees to fall and wait in queues. They can enter and exit through any location without any time-consuming formality. Plus, there is no need to touch any apparatus or sign anything. It is an extremely hygienic, quick, accurate, and easy way for instant attendance.
  9. Device-Agnostic core: Staqo is a technology company at its core. So its experts always underline the need for any solution to be as inclusive and open as possible. These criteria manifest themselves strongly in Staqo Presence too. With simple APIs, configurations, and extensions, any kind of device or infrastructure can be plugged in with Presence. No lock-ins and no constraints here. The solution can be deployed on any kind of device, mobile or tablet.
  10. Safety: The solution you would have chosen in 2019 could be experimentative and confined to business goals. But after 2020, the solution must be highly relevant for today’s contactless world. Whether it is a factory or an office or a store, the ease, and hygiene advantage of contactless attendance are quite high today. It is the responsibility of every enterprise to ensure that its employees can stay productive while observing necessary caution and distancing. That’s where this solution comes in as a well-tailored answer to today’s HR requirements.
    Now employees can work without looking over their backs. Now managers can guide their teams without getting trapped in daily roster-calls.
  11. Analytics: The unprecedented part of these solutions is their fluency in drilling into attendance data and churning out valuable insights. HR teams and managers can slice attendance across a variety of dimensions like peak productive hours, health checks, truancy rates, mood indicators, fatigue spots, red-alert time-stamps, route management, and employee behavior through the instant and granular nature of reports generated here. They can control downtime, enhance motivation, and elevate employee engagement without appearing intrusive or over-bearing. It helps managers to spot good performers and evaders with equal ease.It helps to manage projects with clarity and real-time information. Managers can create rigorous methods of authentication and permissions to ensure more integrity, control and discipline in the work environment. This is possible through a solution that can deliver a simple and beautifully visualized dashboard that is also enriched with sharp reporting Staqo Presence is the perfect answer here that matches this requirement perfectly well.

In the Deloitte 2020 Global Human Capital Report, it was observed that organizations have traditionally leaned heavily on workers’ age and generation. These areas carved their talent strategies. But today’s workforce brings in more complexity. Today there is a high need to capture the workforce’s attitudes and values. These insights have to be used by organizations to understand individuals’ distinct characteristics. They can apply these insights to bring them together in ways that can promote a greater sense of belonging. That’s a good way to equip workers to maximize their contribution at work and derive enhanced meaning in their careers.

What is hard to ignore is that 79% of respondents said that fostering a sense of belonging in the workforce was important to their organization’s success in the next 12–18 months. Almost 93% agreed that a sense of belonging drives organizational performance. Also, 25% identified with fostering an environment where workers feel the fair treatment and the room to bring their authentic selves to work. That came up as the biggest driver of belonging. Note that 31% felt having a sense of community and identifying with a defined team — connection — was the biggest driver. Comfort to connection to contribution – that’s the path to go for.

Organizations that establish this kind of inclusive culture are twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets, and also three times as likely to be high-performing. They are, in Deloitte’s reckoning, six times as likely to be innovative and agile, and eight times more likely to achieve better business outcomes.

Isn’t that what attendance should enable? Comfort, connection, and room for contribution.

The overall idea is to manage attendance in a way that it stays backstage and does not interrupt the core working of any organization. But the bonus is that tools like Staqo Presence make attendance-tracking a smart way of improving productivity, employee satisfaction, and uptime – while also giving insights on what/when/where employees find happy moments and work-fulfillment. Do not stop your employees’ energy and time in marking attendance. Let them work freely to their potential. Staqo will take care of the rest.