Safe Customised Data Storage

Team member data is personal and confidential. Businesses have a duty of care to make sure this information is stored securely. Furthermore, because every business is different, it is important that a business can add and change what items of data are kept for their team members. Providing a way to customise what information is stored, providing a way to search this information, and to track changes is an essential part of being organised with your team member / employee data. And doing all this while storing it securely is a basic cost of doing business now. The key features of safe data storage include:

1. Ability to store basic details like name, address, dob, start date, contact details, etc…

2. All details are stored in an encrypted form - so that even if stolen, the data is useless without the secure keys

3. Ability to search for team members based on any of the data above

4. Ability to organise people into teams where teams have a name/identity

5. Creation of an audit trail when any of an employee’s data changes (so you can go back in time)

6. Ability to add custom fields to the basic employee data set

Setting and Tracking Goals

Teams that have clear and documented goals perform better than teams who don’t. By writing goals down we force ourselves to think more clearly about what is important, and we better visualise the sorts of activities that will be required to reach these goals. Furthermore, there are goals for individuals and goals for teams. By writing down the goals, it becomes easier to make sure that an individual’s goals are well aligned with the team goals, and that the goals of multiple individuals align well together. Once a team has well-crafted goals for everyone in the team, it then becomes important to track activity and progress towards these goals. By recording progress (or lack thereof) it becomes easier to know when and how to take corrective action. The key features of setting and tracking goals include:

1. Ability for an admin or similar role to set goals for an individual or team

2. Ability to review an individual’s goals against those of the team and determine where they are aligned and not aligned

3. Ability to review all the goals of individuals in a team and review them for consistency, fairness and completeness.

4. Ability to record progress or an activity against a goal

5. Ability to mark goals as partially complete (25%, 50% etc…) for tracking and reporting purposes

Acknowledged Communications

Business routinely needs to communicate important information to team members. This can be safety related information - e.g. how to use and operate specific equipment safely. It can also be policy related information such as how the business chooses to interact with customers. One of the persistent challenges with workplace communication is knowing if the intended recipient has actually received and understood the material. Acknowledged communications is a way of publishing information in video and SMS format and keeping track of who has received it, and who has acknowledged that they have read it and understand it. Using acknowledged communications, you can be sure that team members are receiving important information they need to perform at their best. The key features of setting and tracking goals include:

1. Ability for team manager to create short (2 min) video and distribute to team(s).

2. Ability for team members to acknowledge that they have watched & understood the communication

3. Keep track of who has watched distributed videos and who has acknowledged watching them.

4. Ability to send an SMS message to a team or individuals that requires confirmation

5. Ability to track who has confirmed the receipt of an SMS message

Managing Certifications

Many businesses require their team members to hold certifications (or licences) to perform certain types of work. For example, a valid driver’s licence, a forklift licence, a welding certificate, CPR & first-aid etc…Failure to ensure that team members have the relevant and valid certifications can be a serious liability for a business. The main motivation for ensuring team members have the right certifications is so that they are safe, and the work gets completed with an acceptable level of quality. However, the fines for non-compliance are significant. Worse, should an accident occur, and it is found that the involved parties are not certified, then the penalties can be even more severe. By managing certifications centrally, you will always know who does and doesn’t have the required certifications, and you will be notified well in advance of when they expire. The key features of setting and tracking goals include:

1. Ability for a team member to upload a copy of a certification (drivers’ licence, forklift licence, etc…) into app and attach to their profile with an expiration date

2. Ability for admin or team manager to review certifications across the team and make sure everyone has valid certs (i.e. not expired)

3. Ability for an admin or team member to review what certifications are due to expire in the next (say) 2 months and easily reach out to the appropriate team members

Standard Operating Procedures

Every business has policies and procedures that describes “how things are done’”. This can be the operation of machinery, open & closing the store, stock taking, ordering new stock, etc… These procedures are something that people need to refer to periodically as parts of the business evolve and do things differently (and better!) over time. They help onboard new team members efficiently and effectively. Once a business reaches a certain size, usually about 10 employees, it becomes difficult to ensure that these policies and procedures are followed simply by “word of mouth”. Instead, there is a need to write them down, and share them. This feature area allows a business to create and maintain documents that capture the important procedures that team members need to know - and then share them with team members. The key features of setting and tracking goals include:

1. Ability to create a new procedure document and store it in a centrally visible location

2. Ability to publish document changes to team members and collect acknowledgements that team members have review them

3. Ability for team members to search for and read policies or procedures on demand

4. Ability to set dates for when a policy or procedure document should be reviewed for potential updates

5. Ability to see what documents are due to be updated in the (say) next 2 months

Action Oriented Reporting

Most business owners and operators have little time to review general reports. Instead, they benefit from having summary information that explicitly spells out what actions need to be taken to address specific issues. We call this action-oriented reporting. If something appears on an action-oriented report, it is something that you likely need to act on. For example, if the forklift certification for the forklift driver in the warehouse is about to expire in 2 weeks, you know that you need to take action immediately to renew that certification. Similarly, if a team member raises an issue that signals safety may be compromised (the presence of a trip hazard for example), then you need to know about this immediately so you can take corrective action. The key features of setting and tracking goals include:

1. Ability to report on who does not have goals defined

2. Ability to report on who has not recorded any activity or progress towards their goals

3. Ability to report on who is missing certifications across the team(s)

4. Ability to report on who has certification coming up for expiration

5. Ability to report on who a video or sms communication was sent to - however no acknowledgement has been received

6. Ability to report on which teams’ members have not acknowledged the publication of standard operating procedure

Feedback, Issues and Suggestions

Business run better when they tap into the collective talents of their entire team. Opportunities for improvement, big and small, should be collected and managed. Opportunities to avoid problems and reduce risks should also be collected and managed. Businesses with feedback loops outperform those that do not. Furthermore, businesses that understand the morale and sentiment of their team members are also at an advantage. Understanding what people feel is going well, and not so well, is a vital input into providing a workplace environment that most supports people and teams reaching their goals. The key features in this area include:

Capturing team member leave requests of the different types (holiday, sick, carers leave etc…) and keep track of balances

Employees Self-Service

Tools that help you run your business are more effective if all team members can contribute and participate. The ManageTeamsBetter toolset is built with this principle in mind. Every team member in the business will ideally be equipped with these tools, on their phone, so that you can engage your entire workforce in running your business. Of course private data is kept private, and strict permissions are in place that control who can do what in different parts of the toolset, but the underlying principle is to include everyone in a self-service manner. The key features in this area include:

1. Team members can use mobile phone to log into app and see/change their details

2. Ability to read individual, team and organisational goals and plans for meeting these goals

3. Ability to record activity that contributes towards goals - like a diary of things that show what a team member has contributed towards a goal

4. Ability to provide feedback, raise issues and make suggestions for improving the business

5. Ability to review and action items on reports that need somebody to do something

6. Ability to find and review a standard operating procedure

7. Ability to create a new procedure for review and publication

8. Ability to review what certifications and licences an employee has recorded

9. Ability to upload a certification or licence along with an expiry date

10. Ability to receive and acknowledge video and SMS communications

11. For some roles, the ability to create and send video and SMS communications

12. For some roles, the ability to define custom information to be stored with team member records

13. The ability to search for team members based on any of the data kept