Time and Attendance for the Logistics and Transportation Sector

With significant increases in e-commerce sales in recent years, and particularly since the global pandemic of 2020, the pressure on logistics and transportation industries has drastically risen. Demand and expectation on fast delivery times and availability of goods puts pressure on the sector to meet the changing needs of consumers. Selling online gives even the smallest retailer access to a huge international market, and as such, it is estimated that 95% of purchases will be made online by 2040. Ultimately, such changes in supply and demand mean that the planning and management of people, goods, vehicles and routes needs to be precise and as effective and efficient as possible.

Time & attendance in the logistics and transport sector

Deliver the goods

The pressure to deliver goods and services on schedule is high, but with the industry suffering from three times more sick days than the UK average (with 11.4 days taken by transport workers compared to the UK mean of 4.4), the focus has to be on ensuring comprehensive monitoring and oversight of performance.

Staff rota planning and resourcing has been further complicated by Brexit and COVID-19; each of which has created new challenges throughout the supply chain.

The transport and logistics industry employs 2.7 million people in the UK, and operates 24/7/365. Incorporating time and attendance systems into transportation and logistics businesses provides oversight and effective management of staff, shifts and absence, with actionable reports based on all aspects of employee management.

Such solutions help to increase productivity, whilst reducing costs. They allow for complete oversight of clock in/clock out times, so monitoring late arrivals and absences, as well as those who do paid overtime or who regularly arrive early or leave late. By monitoring such aspects within transportation and logistics companies, it is possible to create an efficient working schedule to meet the ever-increasing demand.

Visibility of the workforce is essential in making sure that focus is being given to the right areas of the business. The logistics sector relies heavily on human resources which requires accurate scheduling. Therefore, being able to adapt to changing work shifts, production cycles, holidays and work patterns is vital.

Time and Attendance solutions like RotaOnefrom Thinking Software can provide a clear picture of labour costs and workforce trends, so can respond quickly to the changing market. Logistics companies have large numbers of contractors who come and go. They include a complete mix of full-time, part-time and temporary workers across multiple sites, skills and pay rates. They, therefore, require a system that can manage shifts, attendance, statutory rights and other benefits, such as holiday accrual.

Ensuring an efficient and effective workforce is critical in saving time and costs. Having an overview of what employees are doing in real-time helps businesses hit their goals and manage their finances.

There are many benefits to using time and attendance.

Specific advantages within the logistics sector include:

A self-service app that allows staff to see available shifts and select personal unavailability to work time. This cuts down on huge amounts of communication time between management, planners and employees and the application can be configured to the actual structure of the company (across multiple sites worldwide)
A customisable solution that accommodates a range of working patterns and rules
Handling of 24/7/365 scheduling
Management of temporary and contract staff
The ability for employees to remotely clock in and out
Scheduling of leave, absences and working hours
Analytical tracking of staff attendance can lead to actionable insights

To understand how you could save money, try out our ROI Calculator. By inputting your company figures, in terms of employees, pay periods, time spent on timecard processing and average hourly pay rates, the savings are instantly clear.

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RotaOne’s intuitive reporting dashboard and online rota makes managing, reviewing and overseeing all elements of staffing easy. Ensure resources are in the right place at the right time by using an efficient time and attendance system to help your organisation track staff attendance accurately and to monitor the efficiency of your resources.

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