Technology can help with rail strike headaches
Alan Price, CEO at BrightHR, says that taking advantage of technology can help avoid disputes over lost productivity and reduced wages, as well as facilitate flexible working during the rail strikes.
“Technology can be a great benefit for companies at times like this when there’s so much disruption and pressure on employers and employees alike.
“With travel chaos anticipated, many employees could be starting and finishing work at different times than usual. Some may be working from home while others will be finding alternate modes of transportation.
“The Working Times Regulations require employers to keep official records of working hours, which can be time consuming and frustrating, even when such national disruption isn’t unfolding. But by utilising apps such as our Blip clocking-in app, it makes it easy for employers to keep track of working hours, no matter what is happening in the world.
“Blip lets you manage and monitor your staff’s hours, so you can see who’s in, who’s off, and who’s on a break—all from a smartphone.
“It also creates a geofence (a virtual boundary) around your workplace. When staff pass through it, Blip prompts them to clock in and out so you can see exactly where your staff have worked, and for how long.
“Not everyone will be able to work from home, but for those who are able to work remotely over the strike period, it’s important to ensure working hours and breaks are properly recorded, so that productivity can remain high.
“Rail strikes are completely outside of your employees’ control so it’s not fair that they should have to face diminished wages or being penalised if they can’t make it to work.
“But having robust absence management software in place will help employers keep track of any issues and implement support measures for employees who are struggling to get to work.
“There’s no doubt that this is going to be a tough week. At the end of the day, it is the employees’ responsibility to get themselves to work. But this can present great difficulty, and a good employer should be accommodating, utilising every means possible to help minimise the impact of the strikes on their workplace, and their staff. Technology is a great way to do this.”
