It’s All About Planning Ahead

Managers should start the vacation conversation with employee’s months to weeks in advance. Managers should ask employees what, if any, vacation they plan on taking over the holiday season. Once Managers have an idea of the days and duration of employees requested vacation they can start planning a fair leave schedule.

Even with prior planning, there can still be challenges. It’s best to come up with alternative work arrangements or incentives to aid in this stressful time. Work arrangements such as temporary supplemental staffing, telecommuting, and other creative ideas can ensure productivity remains stable through the weeks of festive celebration. Here are the top 5 Holiday Staffing Strategies:

Holiday Staffing Strategy #1: Temporary Supplemental Staffing

Even with the best planning, it can be necessary to add temporary staff to an organization’s roster. Adding temporary staff will allow permanent employees flexibility in the time they can take off. This will also prevent conflicts between employees on the same teams. It’s best to reach out to a professional recruiter well in advance to ensure that your organization can obtain highly qualified candidates.

Holiday Staffing Strategy # 2: Telecommuting

Telecommuting can be an attractive option for both employers and employees. Allowing employees to telework their full work day or even half day can prevent work from going unfinished. Telework also provides employees with much-needed flexibility as they deal with family holiday obligations.

Holiday Staffing Strategy # 3: Changing Work Hours  

Allowing employees to start their workday earlier or work later in the day can make sure productivity stays consistent.

Holiday Staffing Strategy # 4: Offering Holiday Work Incentives

Offering employees added pay or other perks (free lunches or dinners) can keep your staff numbers high even during the busiest times of the season. Gift cards to restaurants, retail establishments (help with holiday gift giving!), and movie theaters are also greatly appreciated by employees.

Holiday Staffing Strategy # 5: Deferring Vacation Till After the Holiday

Provide employees with the option to defer their vacation to another time of year. This strategy is especially appreciated by employees who may value other times of the year to celebrate with family and friends.

Ensuring Happy Holidays for All!

In closing, staffing during the holidays will always be challenging. The key to success during the holiday season is good planning and flexibility which will make the situation easier for everyone. If supplemental staffing is required, it’s best to reach out to a professional recruiter to ensure access to vetted, qualified candidates. Following these strategies will ensure a happy holiday season for all!

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AI for Business Analytics

Data is necessary to develop business strategy. In this pursuit, AI focuses on giving machines access to data and letting them learn for themselves. The Harvard Business Journal shared an example of AI and business analytics by using algorithms and machine learning. Company and customer information was used to select successful sales phrasing. This then allowed for the creation of a new sales strategy.

AI for HR

In 2017, Inc. magazine published an article regarding the ways that AI is changing HR functions. Benefits included reducing human bias and increasing efficiency. AI also allowed for insight in assessments. Finally, AI also improved relationships with employees. Specifically, by utilizing AI in dealing with existing employees through automated email and instant messaging which reduced the workload of stressed HR departments.

AI in IT

Artificial Intelligence is transforming IT operations in many ways. Cybersecurity was one of the first areas to take advantage of developments in AI, using it to develop models to detect abnormal activity and malware. AI is now used to optimize network configurations based on traffic flow patterns. AI can also automatically detect data types based on similar models. As AI becomes more powerful and prevalent, it will be able to drive further improvements in IT, thus reducing spending and improving performance.

Looking Toward the Future

Looking toward the future, heavy hitters like Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Facebook are all on board with using AI. These business leaders have even formed a partnership to collaborate on this important issue. Regarding the financial impact, Goldman Sachs expects “AI to create hundreds of billions of dollars in cost savings and new opportunities over the next decade.”

So how does an organization apply AI into their infrastructure? It’s best to consult a solutions provider to assess the areas in your organization that could benefit the most from AI.

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In today’s day and age, businesses must do more with less, and ERP is a valuable item in the business toolkit that can allow any organization to save time, money, and create synergy among its many moving parts. Businesses focused on financial and manufacturing are some of the many companies that can benefit greatly from an ERP implementation.

In 2017, ERP News listed Information Integration, Standardization, and Automation as the benefits of ERP implementation.

Information Integration

Think of the amount and various types of information that your company processes every day. ERP allows this data to be pulled together from multiple sources for a more streamlined collection which can save time and money. In many cases, pulling data together from across the company can help provide insights. These insights enable efficiencies in supply and cost management. It can also ensure that a company’s working capital is saved for where it is needed the most.

Standardization

ERP ensures that the information collected from various departments meets minimum reporting standards. This allows for better integration using compatible and complementary formats. With a standard format, data can be more easily collected and synthesized allowing for faster, more robust analytics driving key business insights.

Automation

Day to day administrative tasks can be a big headache and a massive time sink for employees. ERP can be utilized to automate simple tasks such as collection and data conversion. This frees up time that employees can use to focus on more strategic thinking. ERP can also be used to automatically validate existing data such as customer contact and billing information. Thus, shortening the time between delivery and payment by eliminating errors or typos.

Is ERP for you?

Before introducing ERP into an organization, it should do an internal assessment to discover what their individual needs are and what processes it can help with. When in doubt, it’s best to consult a professional solutions provider to aid in your organization’s design and creation of a new ERP solution to ensure you make the best investment for your business and your employees. They will also be able to tailor a training plan that will best prepare your organization for a successful implementation.

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