The past 12 months have not been all doom and gloom. In fact, many sectors have witnessed growth and prosperity. Tech in particular has been able to shift suddenly to remote working with its workforce remaining profitable and productive. It is somewhat unsurprising given the nature of these companies that are traditionally agile, digitally savvy, and generally in a better position to adapt when needed. The likes of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google saw positive growth at a time when the US economy shrank by 32.9%. Additionally, scaleups like Trustpilot and Deliveroo both recently listed on the London Stock Exchange, signalling a trust in the UK’s growing tech scene.
It would seem that now is a good time for technology companies to take that next step in their growth. Scaling a business successfully needs to take a considered approach. Selling more of your product or solution is one thing but maintaining the same employee experience for the workforce alongside this is easier said than done. With more staff and offices in different locations, getting it wrong could mean losing revenue, and the individuals that made your business what it was in the first place.
Inevitably the way a business operates will change as soon as a business decides to expand into new territories and countries. Ensuring that HRs are included in planning and communicating the company’s vision is crucial to help everything run smoothly, and reassure employees of the company’s plans. Making this easy for them is crucial. Technology and in particular absence intelligence software, is vital for scaling organisations.
Technology’s helping hand
Often paper and spreadsheets are the ‘go to’ process to manage staff absence and holiday bookings. These pre-existing processes that you may have in place to handle your current operations and team management are unlikely to be sufficient when you expand into new territories. This is an admin heavy and time consuming activity but think how complicated this gets when the same HR’s admin now doubles due to company growth. This team must now account for more employee requests, and also adhere to different country annual leave compliance issues, not to mention cultural differences in recording and communicating this absence. In Germany for example, employees are not obliged to tell their manager the reason for unplanned absence or sickness, as it is considered rude. In comparison to the UK where employees often will notify their manager why they are not able to work and any illnesses they may have.
Absence management software helps growing companies stay compliant throughout international expansion. All staff can be added to an online platform, that both they and their manager have visibility of. This ensures they are receiving the right amount of annual leave in concurrence with the legal requirement, and that they are able to book time off when they feel it is necessary. Managing your entire global workforce from one system will also mean that there is no risk that employees take too much holiday, or managers are alerted too late to approve staff holiday. Systems can be integrated that allow managers and employees equal visibility of holiday allowance or sick leave with no awkward conversations needed.
Scaling with thoughtful planning will propel your business forward to success. Ensuring employees are aligned and ready for change but are also set up for success with the right systems, processes, and technology integrated are important steps to get right in this process. Expanding globally will mean introducing more people into the mix so it’s important to spend time understanding how your current systems may or may not be able to support this.
Communicate to avoid the pitfalls
As with any new endeavour preparing to make scaling as seamless and straightforward as possible for the business and staff alike is important. If you are scaling it is probably worth considering how best to manage your staff who will still be working remotely for the foreseeable future. Communication is key in avoiding any potential pitfalls and making sure you are in the best position to grow.
If you are expanding into previously unknown territories, it is important to understand, in advance, the best ways to communicate with people to make them feel included. Consider how updates are delivered, the tone used, any underlying message implied, and how nonverbal communication affects this.
How technology can be leveraged to make this messaging coherent is crucial to understand. Communication needs to be two-way, consistent, and echoed in all internal correspondence. Identifying processes that may have initially worked for the business in its initial stages need to be updated and replaced with a more scalable and technology-first process. Software that is easy to access online and offers global transparency for both manager and employee can reduce administration efforts for HR, minimise confusion, simplify the process of booking and approving time off, and signpost management to individuals that need may support.
Scaling with absence in mind is crucial for business success. Providing support for employees is important in keeping a productive and happy workforce. As your organisation grows this gets harder to manage with more and more employees in need of support. Making sure you are in the best position to handle this by utilizing software that ensures you are compliant, adhering to cultural differences, and communicating effectively can combat any difficulties you may otherwise come across along the way.
