Fire roll call systems are essential in allowing Fire Marshals and the emergency services to safely account for employees and staff during an evacuation. Such roll call solutions are a must for businesses, in order to ensure an efficient evacuation in any emergency situation.

In 2019, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Thinking Software. Rota Horizon is being used in hotels, factories, warehouses and offices around the world. Every day our system processes more than 750,000 employee time-recording transactions.

Back in May 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled to make recording of employees’ working time mandatory. The ruling creates a system that enforces workers’ rights, specifically under the charter of fundamental rights and the EU's working time directive, the latter of which outlines maximum working hours as well as minimum daily and weekly rest periods for employees.

Paxton Access Control is one of the world’s leading access control platforms. Our seamless Paxton integration combines the benefits of two powerful software solutions. 

Staff rota software provides users with a planning tool to manage employee shifts and department rotas. Planning rosters in advance provides both management and employees with more accurate forecasts on attendance and associated rota costs.

How much do you value the safety of your staff? Since an emergency can happen at any time, the way you manage an evacuation is key to ensuring the safety of staff, visitors and contractors.

The key to successful evacuation management is having real-time information about the status of your site and the location of individual personnel within it.

As a manager, remaining informed about the changes in legislation that affect your members of staff is tough, to say the least. Managing your full-time paid members of staff can be challenging at the best of times, so keeping on top of amendments to regulations regarding employees on other kinds of contracts is, most certainly, a taxing task.

This particular topic is one I've discussed before and is regularly discussed by many others. Understandably it's a common feature in current affairs, in a competitive business environment, in order for companies to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage over their rivals. Keeping their talented individuals has never been more imperative.

Here at Thinking Software pride ourselves on helping our clients with Workforce Management, Time & Attendance and Evacuation Management & Emergency Roll-Call solutions. This is to the point that they can be integrated if you so desire, providing a more innovative and complete solution.

We want to prompt you to think about whether you have considered the way you do things currently and perhaps you know it's not the best approach or perhaps you're blissfully unaware. Either way, it's worth exploring as there are payroll savings to be made and proof that you did all you could in a disaster to make everyone safe.

I came across the article: Top bosses ‘don’t trust fire safety’ which for me, is unsurprising with recent events that have happened, most notably the Grenfell disaster. It would appear that management officials no longer have any faith in the current processes in place to ensure that people are safe. The article states:

I came across the article: UK – Businesses lose up to 7 weeks a year of productivity due to worker procrastination, study finds.” (20 August 2018, https://www2.staffingindustry.com) As the title highlights the article is assessing the implications of employees being distracted at work and the effects that has on their performance.

You may be looking at Access Control system for all the security benefits associated with implementing one, it certainly makes sense to do so. However some may be reluctant as they want an effective staff planning, Time & Attendance system but are unsure which to opt for or prioritise.

When it comes to employment everybody has different aspirations in terms of what they want to achieve from their job. Those who are career driven may well put in all the hours they can in order to secure a promotion or essentially get to where they want to be. Others on the other hand may see works as a means to an end and only do what’s expected of them.

I came across the article: “Out of Office on! – Preparing your workforce for the summer holidays.” (July, 2018, http://hrnews.co.uk) As the title suggests, it makes some very helpful suggestions to ensure you have minimal disruptions in your organisation with the expected high volume of staff taking their Annual Leave.

I came across the article “Building and City Automation Driving Growth for Access Control” (ABI Research, July 2018, www.prnewswire.com) highlighting how the Security Industry has evolved. The article discusses how it’s introduction was to simply allow or deny access to a building for people, where as now clients are demanding so much more from the data produced.

There have been a number of High Profile cases in recent times that have meant that the potential dangers of Fire can’t be underestimated and need careful consideration. Sadly this is another subject in current affairs where the logical mind is at war with the emotional one as organisations have to look at the most viable methods of protecting their staff.

“Almost a third of financial services workers are badly affected mentally by ‘working around the clock’, a study by Lockton has found:

Living in age of always being online and contactable for work-related issues is having a detrimental effect on the mental health of financial services employees, it has been suggested by Lockton’s Global Benefits Forum Survey.” (www.covermagazine.co.uk, Adam Saville, 2018)

From the 19th to the 21st of June, The Thinking Software team will be exhibiting at FIREX International 2018 and we sincerely hope we see as many of you as we possibly can.

I came across the article “Presenteeism – the UK’s biggest threat to productivity?” (May 30, 2018, Wanda Rich, www.globalbankingandfinance.com) I do concede that it was of particular interest as I’d not come across the term Presenteeism before, which in the article is described as:

“The issue of employees coming into work while not physically or mentally well, instead of staying home and recuperating.

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The Grenfell Tower disaster really was eye opener to everyone in understanding just how vulnerable buildings are to fire. Historically we all have had some form of fire safety education, but like many I’m sure we assume that these horrific events only happen to other people. We just remain very hopeful that we never have to endure an incident of that nature.

Employers are always looking to ensure that their Workforce is fit and healthy so they can be at optimum productivity when they are on shift. As a result, anything that can prompt any form of absence, employers will look to be proactive and look to try and stop before it’s happened.

Leave for sickness is a topic debated by all employers on how to address the affect it can have on the organisation. The last message you want to send your employees is that they simply can’t take leave for illness. While at the same time you don’t want employees to feel they are free to take sick leave on a regular basis as you won’t have adequate resource to devote where it’s needed.

It must be difficult for the majority of organisations to keep up with the amount of legislation that is imposed and then changed by different political decisions. The one that has still left a great deal of uncertainty is Brexit, where much of the UK’s legislation was imposed by the EU, outside however the nation will have greater freedom with what they impose but that will need to be decided and completed.

While an employer always wants to ensure they are maximising productivity from their staff, ideally they will want to achieve this without adding an unnecessary amount of stress to employees, making the success sustainable. This was highlighted further by the article I came across: “5 ways to reduce workplace stress.” (https://www.managementtoday.co.uk, 2018)

Every business wants to ensure they do all they can to achieve maximum business productivity while keeping morale as high as possible in the process. Different people have different management techniques, however the majority would certainly understand the importance of arming talented members of staff with the correct tools to reap the desired rewards.