Businesses today have to operate in a very dynamic environment that becomes more and more demanding.
On the one hand, customers require better quality services, ingenuity, top-notch communication, and speedy delivery.
On the other hand, the competition seems to have everything together, as they amp up their employees and increase productivity while you can’t figure out how they managed to pull it off.
Well, the only plausible answer is technology.
In the race to win the biggest market share, companies everywhere started dipping their toes in the bag of apps, platforms, and tech tools that help take over the menial, repetitive tasks. Moreover, due to collaborative technologies, companies now have access to a worldwide talent pool plus experts, consultants, and advisors.
So, any business that wants to stay competitive without overworking their employees or dropping the quality or price, will have to start thinking in modern terms. For instance, something as simple as QR codes integrated with the payroll reporting software could improve productivity and bring down costs.
How Are QR Codes Helpful?
You see them everywhere you go, in stores, on stickers, on websites, and more. Anywhere you look, there has to be a QR code!
So, how are these weird barcodes going to help your business and bring the benefits we mentioned?
First, we should talk about how QR codes (Quick Response) work. They are a type of barcode that can be read with a wide range of digital devices (no need for a special device). However, they differ from barcodes because they store a wide range of data that can be easily accessed by simply scanning the code.
While most QR codes you see in stores and online take you to a web address, the ones used in logistics (as an instance) tend to be used to track products in the supply chain. And, more recently, QR codes proved incredibly useful in tracking COVID-19 exposure and slowing the spread of the virus.
When properly used in a company, QR codes can help:
- Track employees
- Improve productivity
- Reduce bureaucracy
- Free up HR staff’s workload
- Track daily operations & identify issues in real-time
Moreover, when integrated with payroll processing software it becomes easier to keep record of your employees’ hours and progress. It also cuts down the time spent calculating bonuses, making documents, and releasing payments.
Additionally, your employees won’t have to waste time filling out paperwork and reports. QR codes are a quick and easy way for employees to log their attendance, providing a timekeeping record even when employees are off-site.
Lastly, the data collected with the help of a QR-based system helps improve payroll reporting, which will let you see the bigger picture over a longer period of time.
Why QR Code-Based Reporting is Much Better Than Paper Timesheets?
Who likes filling out their timesheet at the end of a long and hard day? Almost no one. Yet, employers require this of their employees on a daily basis.
Paper timesheets filled out by employees, even when there’s a control system in place, are (at best) inaccurate. In most cases, there’s no ill intention behind this, it’s just that the human mind is not designed to remember every detail that may be important for the decision-makers. In fact, people use very general terms to fill in their timesheets, which can give you (the decision-maker) a distorted picture of reality.
Moreover, paper timesheets can be faked or open to “buddy punching” (clocking in for a friend), which makes it difficult to discover discrepancies in productivity.
Lastly, paper timesheets cannot be integrated with modern reporting systems.
On the other hand, by using QR codes and geofencing you will get an accurate depiction of your workers’ behavior and patterns while within the perimeter. Moreover, if you pair QR technology with a time tracking system, it becomes incredibly easy to keep track of everyone’s hours without anyone having to fill in mountains of papers.
How do QR Codes help With Payroll Reporting?
As we already mentioned, QR codes store information. Therefore, companies can use different codes for different departments and activities, while each employee will have their unique code.
Once the system is implemented, each employee’s activities will be automatically logged into the system and processed according to instructions. This means all the data will be available in a centralized database which can be used for running various reports. For instance, decision-makers can monitor employee performance by comparing the results with various operational KPIs.
Additionally, QR codes improve communication within the company. Employers can include them in departmental or company-wide newsletters or emails in order to link them to training materials, surveys, forms, or other types of information.
You can also use QR codes to help employees access their data and keep up to date with their status. Each employee can use their uniquely generated QR code to log into the company online system and view their pay stubs or their W-2 form. Moreover, QRs are a great way to link employees with other useful forms such as address change, direct deposit, or tax.
How Else Can QR Codes Be Used to Streamline Operations?
QRs are versatile and easy to use in all sorts of projects and tasks (regardless of size). Therefore, as long as you think outside the box, they can be implemented in a wide range of scenarios that can help automate some operations and monitor others.
An easy-to-implement Visitors Management System
Business partners, customers, independent collaborators, job candidates, and even relatives or acquaintances of employees may visit your offices every day. While this type of behavior is normal, it is also a security risk for the company (you never know if and when a visitor decides to snoop around).
To mitigate this risk, you need an efficient visitors management system that keeps track of their movements within the building and blocks access to vital areas. All this can be implemented using the same QR system used for employees. You just generate a new QR code, with different access rules, for visitors.
Customer Feedback
Reviews and testimonials are valuable feedback for any company. However, it can be difficult to convince your customers to leave their opinion. Unless someone is extremely unhappy with your product or service, they most likely will not leave a review.
Here’s why:
- They forgot
- The process has too many steps
- They get too many review requests
So, if you make sure the process is super simple and easy to access, you may increase the chances of receiving a review. That’s where QRs enter the scene. Place a code that leads directly to your review form on all your products, with the message “please, let us know your thoughts”. Also, if you are in the service industry, make sure to include such a QR with your newsletters.
But why are QRs so important in the communication with customers?
Well, it’s all about simplicity and easy access.
If you print a link on your product’s label or if you send a link in your newsletter, customers will still have to write/click the link in order to be taken to the address. These are cumbersome steps that rob you of valuable feedback (no one has the time for that!).
On the other hand, QRs are easy to use. You just point the camera at it and the review form/page will pop up on your screen. It’s that easy!
We’ve only discussed QRs from the point of view of payroll and payroll reporting, but they can be also used for performance monitoring. However, you will also need to use geofencing technology (to keep track of employees’ movements) to define virtual parameters around the work sites or warehouses.
With these two technologies, you can monitor stuff like:
- Team locations on the field (making sure the right team is at the correct site)
- Keeping track of the equipment used
- Attendance (you can set the system to send alerts when employees are late to the job site)
- Tasks being performed and the efficiency of each worker (check if they work within productivity parameters)
Overall, QRs can help businesses monitor employees in order to get an accurate picture of their productivity level. This way, if your people are slacking, you will know. Additionally, if there are any bottlenecks in the production process or a department is overcrowded, the data collected in real-time from the field will indicate the problem and a few acceptable solutions.
Lastly, because QR technology is so easy to implement and integrate with an automated system, your company will be able to cut down costs with technology implementation while freeing up managers’ schedules (especially in HR).
In Conclusion
QR codes are an easy and popular way to streamline systems like attendance and timekeeping, which allows companies to run payroll reports more quickly and efficiently. But, with a bit of ingenuity, QRs can become the main tracking and communication technology in the company.
The technology overall is low-cost and low-maintenance, while the results are impressive. True, it has its limits, but they are extremely efficient for tracking and monitoring. And, QR technology is easy to integrate with modern technologies.