In the context of remote or hybrid work models and flexible work schedules, it is important, for both company as well as employee, to have a clear definition of what "at work" means.
Team members and managers want to know in advance when their colleagues are available for work, when they are in office, at home or working from client locations, and when their work actually starts and ends.
Employees want to have as much flexibility in terms of setting up their work schedule, to properly balance professional and personal life and create a clear separation between the two.
Work Presence
The way we work is changing. With more and more people working remotely, or from home, the traditional office environment is becoming less common. For many people, this is a positive change – it gives them more flexibility and freedom when it comes to their work life. However, there are some drawbacks to working in a hybrid environment, where some people are in the office and some are not.
One of the biggest challenges of working in a hybrid environment is maintaining a sense of presence. When you’re in the office, it’s easy to see who’s there and who’s not. But when people are working from home, or from different locations, it can be more difficult to know who’s available and who’s not. This can make it difficult to collaborate on projects, or to simply have a conversation.
Oraroo is solving all that, by allowing its users to state their presence at work (start, break, end) but also by being able to integrate with online access control systems. This allows their colleagues or managers be aware when they are "at work" or not, regardless of what "at work" really means.
In the conditions of remote working under flexible conditions, it is recommended that employees signal the start and end of the actual work schedule, as well as the breaks taken.
In Oraroo, we have implemented a quick and intuitive method (start button, pause, stop timer) to record this actual work attendance. This way, the line manager and the team can quickly find out in the "My Team Calendar" screen if a colleague can be reached for a work-related discussion or is on personal time.
As organizations strive to improve security and safety while reducing costs , they are turning to automated access systems to help them achieve these goals . These systems can provide valuable presence data that can be used to improve security , safety , and efficiency while reducing costs .
Using the standard Import feature, such data can be uploaded in Oraroo, then used for additional analysis by management to cross-check with reported timesheets, overtime, etc. As part of Enterprise Plan, an import of such data can be also automated so it can arrive in Oraroo in near-real-time, providing colleagues with visibility of presence and immediate opportunities for collaboration.
Work Location
The modern workplace is no longer constrained by location. Thanks to advances in technology, more and more employees are able to work remotely, whether from home, a coffee shop, or even a co-working space.
There are many benefits of having a flexible work location. For employees, it can mean a better work-life balance, more independence and freedom, and the ability to work from anywhere in the world. For employers, it can mean reduced overhead costs, increased productivity, and the ability to attract top talent. With more and more companies embracing flexible work locations, it's clear that this is the future of work.
In Oraroo, in addition to traditional office spaces, a work location is any other location that has an address. This can include your own home, a partner's, friend's or relative's house, a co-working space, or even from client's office, whenever a project requires it.
The company policy may decide that some types of work locations are allowed only by somebody's approval. For example, there are cases where working from office is the norm, while work from home can be allowed only if approved by superior. However, there are other cases where company offices are small, and their use is subject to a limit in desks which may required prior reservations.
All these cases are fully supported by Oraroo.
The employees' place of work can be at the employer's premises, the clients' premises, or at home (telework)
The manager can schedule the workplace according to specific needs:
- at the customer's place, when appropriate;
- at one of the company offices, taking into account their capacity (in flexible-desk or reserved desk mode);
- at home, based on the employee's declared home addresses
Also, employees themselves can request a change in workplace planning, and companies can decide whether or not such actions are subject to the approval of their superior.
An electronically formal procedure in your company for allowing employees to request to work from home has many benefits. It will help Human Resources Team to process easier and faster "Work From Home"requests and to have always an up-to-date evidence about who is in the office, working in client's office or working from home. Employees and managers will also appreciate the transparency and ease around this process.
Oraroo helps companies to simplify such a procedure. For initiating a Work From Home request, employees will follow these steps:
- access My Calendar section;
- click on "+" button or select directly from calendar the desired period;
- choose the type of request "Work Location Planning";
- in case employees have many home addreses (eg. the domicile of an employee is in Buzău, but he is living with rent in Bucharest. He may work sometimes from both cities), they can select the right one from the list of addresses. The list of home addresses from which employees can work from home is previously defined by the Human Resources Team, depending on the case of each employee;
- send the request for approval.
Work From Home requests are generally approved by direct managers, but if they need second oppinion in taking the decision, they can ask additional approval from another team member, project member etc.
Messages to Employees
In order to build and maintain a cohesive and effective team, good communication is key, especially when team members are working remotely.
When communicating with employees working remotely, it is very important to be clear and concise in your communication, to avoid confusion or misunderstanding, but also to make the message as easy to read as possible, highlighting keywords and using bullets to structure longer topics.
Over-communicate, rather than under-communicate: It’s better to send a message to more people than needed than too little. This will help ensure that everyone is on the same page and no one feels left out or in the dark. On the other hand, it's important that such messages are focused on a single idea, so everybody understands why they need to actually read and understood it.
In Oraroo you can make a message as pretty as you would like, being able to use various fonts, highlights or even emoticons, but also attach documents where employees may find more details in case they are really interested in the topic.
Such messages are different than classical emails, because Oraroo can track who has read them or acknowledged their understanding, making it also an invaluable tool to convey messages of a regulatory nature.
Employee Climate Surveys
Climate surveys are a valuable tool for gauging employee satisfaction and understanding the factors that contribute to a positive or negative work environment. By surveying employees on a regular basis, organizations can identify issues early and take steps to address them before they become bigger problems.
When designing a climate survey, it is important to consider what type of information you want to collect and how you will use the results. Do you want to focus on specific areas such as a specific process or procedure, or do you want to get a general overview of employee satisfaction?
Once you have decided what type of data you want to collect, you need to decide how you will administer the survey. Oraroo can help you make this an experience as pleasant as possible. Not only it allows you to design it in an easy to read and exciting manner, it will help you to promote it to employees and encourage them to participate.
Sometimes you would like your employees to answer difficult topics without fear of unpleasant consequences, and Oraroo can be a trusted warrant for such anonymity. Once a survey is defined as anonymous in Oraroo, only the employee itself can view the provided answers. Everybody else in the company with elevated access in Oraroo, being HR or management, will only see the count of answers or the comments provided, without the ability to link them to an actual person.
In any case, Oraroo helps you share the results of the survey back with the employees and communicate actions that will be taken to address any areas of concern.
Regular climate surveys are a valuable way to gauge employee satisfaction and ensure that your organization is a great place to work.
Within an organization, surbeys can be created by different departments or teams, such as the market research department, the communication department, the marketing team, the human resources team.
Oraroo helps these teams to:
- define personalized surveys with multiple or open-ended questions and multiple choice answers;
- distribute surveys to employees within the organization;
- automatically collect survey responses. They are stored in a database and can later be analyzed through reports;
- automate certain processes, such as sending notifications to employees, saving time and effort for the organization.
How can you define a new survey in Oraroo?
At the beggining, some minimal details about the survey are mentioned.
- Access the section dedicated to surveys in the HR Admin area - Surveys Section;
- Click on the "+" button to add a new survey;
- Specify basic information such as Internal Name, Title and Description;
- If the employee's name needs to remain anonymous when completing the answers, check the "Anonymous" field. Otherwise, you will see the names of the employees when you check the answers;
- Select the status of the survey: In Progress – when the process of developing or administering it to employees is still ongoing, Published – when employees can access it and answer questions. Processing the information and filling in the answers is not yet finished or Closed – when the answers to the questions have been processed and employees can no longer access it to answer the questions.
- Click the Save button to save the basic survey information.
After adding the basic information, you will be redirected to the Survey Details page, where you will be able to add the questions that will make up that survey, in the Survey Questions section. In order to add a question:
- Click on the "+" button in the Survey Questions section;
- Specify the name of the question;
- Set the number and name of the answer options. If not, the question will have an open answer;
- You can set which questions and answers depend on the appearance of the new question in the survey;
- Select the order of appearance of the question in the survey;
- Click the Save button to add the question.
After saving the question, you will be redirected to the Survey Details page, the screen from which you also added the first question. Afterwords, to add more questions to the survey, either clone existing questions and change their names, or follow the same steps listed above until you've finished adding all the questions.
Capturing Presence Data from Automated Access Systems
As organizations strive to improve security and safety while reducing costs, they are turning to automated access systems to help them achieve these goals. These systems can provide valuable presence data that can be used to improve security, safety, and efficiency while reducing costs.
Using the standard Import feature, such data can be uploaded in Oraroo, then used for additional analysis by management to cross-check with reported timesheets, overtime, etc. As part of Enterprise Plan, an import of such data can be also automated so it can arrive in Oraroo in near-real-time, providing colleagues with visibility of presence and immediate opportunities for collaboration.