If your company manages a workforce that provides services to clients, you will know how important it is to get workforce management compliance with labour legislation just right. Labour disputes, court cases, penalties and fines can be avoided with simple systems, good record-keeping, good software, regular audits, and an understanding of the law. How good are your compliance processes in keeping your company on the right side of the law?
Labour Legislation
Labour legislation differs from country to country and is constantly changing. Companies that operate from multiple branches in several countries face an additional challenge in complying with country specific laws and regulations.
In South Africa, for example, several Acts govern the relationship between employer and employee. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act covers the working conditions of employees, such as leave, overtime and hours of work. Employers can contract specific conditions with each employee, but can only contract within the law, i.e., the negotiated conditions must always be more favourable to the employee than those prescribed in the Act.
Other relevant Acts include the Labour Relations Act, the Employment Equity Act, the Skills Development Act, Unemployment Insurance Act, the Occupational Health & Safety Act, the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act and Workman’s Compensation Act. Compliance with all eight Acts will be challenging for any company if not approached systematically with proper systems.
Managing compliance and the workforce
Companies that provide security or cleaning services, for example, will normally have to contract with several clients simultaneously to provide their services at different locations.
The main operational challenge is to ensure that the right people, with the right skills, are reliably deployed to the various sites at the right time. The shift roster must, at the same time, ensure that all the employment terms are honoured, and that contractual requirements of the service agreement are met. This is a difficult problem, even more so without proper software tools.
For example, an employee may only be deployed within the working hours specified in their contract and to a previously agreed-upon location. Should there be a sudden need to work overtime, this should be within the Act’s conditions and by prior Agreement with the employee. Even if the employee wants to volunteer to work overtime and be paid more, this might be prevented by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
During day-to-day operations, changes and disruptions are inevitable, and the best plans must then be adapted on the fly. Some flexibility should therefore be built into the shift roster while always remaining efficient and productive. For example, there should always be standby people on call. Some spare capacity should also cater for leave, training, and other activities. This extra capacity should only be utilised in terms of the the legislation, and the employer must always keep accurate records and immediately attend to exceptions. Optimising all these factors is critical to profitability and ultimately business success.
The process of allocating people and resources to track shift activity while complying with workplace legislation is called Workforce Management Compliance. Workforce Management Compliance ensures that the right skills are deployed to the correct sites as efficiently as possible, optimising productivity and reducing risk.
Using software to reduce the risk of non-compliance.
Compliance is greatly simplified when a suitable workforce management compliance software tool is used. EasyRoster is a proven and widely adopted workforce management compliance software system that ensures employers can confidently and reliably plan and schedule their workforce and comply with legislation. Using EasyRoster will allow organisations to operate significantly more efficiently and profitably than competitors who might use manual systems or spreadsheets.
There are many tangible benefits that result from implementing EasyRoster. The most obvious is improved workforce productivity through better control of day-to-day activities. This, in turn, leads to reduced costs and improved profitability. But another significant benefit sometimes overlooked is ensuring and tracking compliance. Local employment regulations can be built into the scheduling logic and reports. Any exceptions, such as excessive overtime, quickly become apparent and can be immediately attended to.
The reports built into EasyRoster are designed to help business managers run an efficient and profitable operation. Unsurprisingly, EasyRoster users regard EasyRoster as critical to their success. Companies using EasyRoster are also far less likely to face the risk of non-compliance with the possible fines and penalties.
For More Information
EasyRoster is an easy-to-use workforce management compliance system used by service organisations to optimise the scheduling and tracking of people across multiple locations. A unique, fast, and robust optimisation engine, proven for more than two decades years, sets EasyRoster apart. EasyRoster is suitable for single branch companies, as well as large enterprises with branch offices across many countries. EasyRoster optimises and automates shift scheduling, attendance tracking and related workforce management compliance. The system is simple, intuitive, and easy to use. Using EasyRoster will result in improved customer service, enhanced workforce management compliance, and ultimately a more profitable business.
For more information on Adapt IT’s workforce management compliance solutions, or to arrange a demo, please contact Adapt IT [+(27)10 494 2919]
As a Senior Product Manager at Adapt IT, I lead the division responsible for one of our flagship products, EasyRoster. Our primary focus is to empower organisations with top-tier Workforce Management Software, enabling them to optimise operational efficiency and streamline processes.
With over 12 years of experience in the industry, I have collaborated with clients across 25+ countries, delivering training sessions and offering labor efficiency consultations to diverse groups of professionals.
In my capacity as Senior Product Manager, I oversee a multidisciplinary team that together, strive to create innovative solutions and maintain our commitment to excellence in the realm of workforce management.
