I remember growing up in the bush in western NSW where any of the farmers would need to call in a plane and pilot to get an overview of the farm. Planes and pilots cost a lot of money, imagine how low cost it would be in comparison to send in the drones…

Identified Technologies’ Drones Will Automatically Map Your Job Site So You Don’t Have To

Mapping a job site – be it a construction site, oil field, or giant human battery pod factory – is a tough job. That’s why Identified Technologies’ Dick Zhang wants you to send in the drones.

His company, which is funded to the tune of $2 million, allows you to send a quadcopter around your job site to create a topographical map of the situation. It is completely autonomous, and the batteries can be hot-swapped as the drone maps. The system comes with a base station where the drone comes to roost when its done.

Read more

• Hire efficient employees at higher rates – while keeping more senior staff members around may cost more per hour or per annual wage, they can save you money. One efficient employee that can do the job of two less productive employees will typically cost less in the long run. After all, one employee at $20 per hour costs less than two employees accomplishing the same tasks while getting a rate of $15 per hour each ($30 combined). Hiring the more skilled employee may look like it costs more on paper, but it doesn’t always want to work out that way.
• Encourage using fewer staff during quiet periods – whether it’s a quiet day  or a quiet month for projects in your industry, encourage management to send unnecessary staff home. Casual employees in particular will often relish the opportunity to leave work early, even if it means decreased earnings. You can also provide incentives for those who do agree to have a shift cut shorter than scheduled.
• Keep track of the financials – revisit your labour cost calculations frequently to ensure you can make any adjustments as necessary to your approach to staffing and business expenses.

• Bonuses – if staff earn performance-related bonuses, flexibility with shift times should be a factor that can be rewarded. After all, these individuals are helping your company by volunteering to take fewer wages by working shifts shorter than scheduled.
• Offer additional benefits – allow employees to earn extra vacation days, even if they are unpaid, while still providing them with job security.
• Allow them to make scheduling requests – if employees are flexible with going home so you can maintain labour costs, give them some flexibility as well. If they’d prefer to be schedule for specific shift times/days, accomodate that when possible.

• Pay all outstanding funds – you must pay an employee that is leaving their full wages based on their hours worked, or based on their normal salary. This includes any overtime hours worked, and any penalty rates that apply. Just because an employee is leaving doesn’t mean you owe them any less than an employee that is remaining on staff.
• Pay out leave time – if the employee has not yet used any annual leave time that they have accrued, that must be paid out based on their standard rate of pay. Leave time taken previously should be recorded on time and attendance software, if your company has been using that to track hours worked.
• Redundancy pay – redundancy pay is a severance pay that is based on an individual’s length of employment and their employment contract. This is owed if an individual is terminated from their role.

 Image credit

Two popular options are putting these employees on payroll or setting them up as an independent contractor. Having them labelled as an independent contractor, has a number if different pros and cons.

•  You don’t not need to worry about submitting tax deductions from payroll on behalf of the employee.
• They are responsible for invoicing the business once the job has been completed.
• There is no obligation to pay individuals that are not on regular payroll for vacation time, overtime and holidays.
• the payment process is simplified.

However, you do need to ensure that all people you classify as independent contractors, are in fact self-employed, and that their role with the company is justifiable. Otherwise, the government may be under the impression that you are classifying people. In the trades industries, independent contractors can be anyone that you bring in to focus on certain aspects of the business that they also provide as part of their business services. Any contractor that cannot be classified this way should be put on standard payroll, or the benefits are lost.

But, once you’ve gathered the data, how do you get the money to the employees?

• Bank deposit – collect banking information from employees (by having them provide a void cheque).

• Look at how often that employee requests time off – a strong, loyal employee will not typically try and get out of their shifts on a regular basis. At least not without a good reason. Look at their typical hour records by using your time and attendance system. If you find that they are typically responsible, then allowing them the time off, and making alternative staffing arrangements is important to retain them as an employee.
• Look at typical staffing on that day – determine if you have adequate staff to cover the shift on that particular day. It could mean restructuring the schedule for the entire week. But for a good employee, that is worthwhile.
• Consider their available leave time – allow employees to use any personal leave when they have been using is sparingly. Especially if they have give advanced notice that they would like to take time off.

Whatever your company policies, ensure that all requests for time off are received in writing.

• An employee’s regular rate of pay must be payed when annual leave is cashed out.
• At least the minimum of four weeks annual leave must be left available.
• In many cases, it is company policy only to issue cashout for annual leave when too much has been accumulated and the business can’t afford to have the employee take that much time off in a reasonable period of time.

If this is becoming a problem in your workplace, take the following steps:

• Find out what the problem is – although it may not excuse the issue, understanding the problem can help you understand the situation and determine the next course of action. If someone has a chronic disease, or if they’re experiencing problems in the workplace, you might choose to react less harshly than if they simply claim illness due to excessive alcohol consumption on a regular basis.
• Address their compliance to your sick day policy – if your policy is to allow individuals to take one sick day per month (earned), or to allow them to use their accumulated vacation days when they are sick, and they are doing something that goes against this policy, it needs to be addressed.
• Let them know how their frequent use of sick days impacts the business –  the employee may not even realize how they are inconveniencing the rest of the company, and understanding this might change their behavior. Be honest, and see how they react.
• Provide a warning – issue a written warning when it has become an issue. Make sure that the warning provides consequences if behavior is not changed.

•  Speak to the employee about the discrepancy – first, you have to notify the employee of the error (although, they are likely already aware of the additional funds in their bank account!). You can’t take any additional steps until they have been made aware of the problem.

• Discuss a solution – the employee may offer a solution or have a simple way of transferring the overpaid funds back to you. This can be the easier option if you’ve got someone that’s willing to cooperate during the process.
• Look into deductions from their next paycheque – you have to be careful with this, as you can’t end up paying an hourly employee less than minimum wage on their next paycheque when you deduct their overpayment. If this would be the case, you’ve got to look at different options to recoup the money.
• Offer overtime – you can always give the employee the chance to work for the extra money they earned through the overpayment by taking on an additional shift that they wouldn’t normally work.

Of course, using a time and attendance system can help prevent these kinds of issues from occurring!