Gathering data is essential for businesses looking to expand and grow. Business data can help you identify gaps in processes, areas that can benefit from more resources, and shortages that are preventing your growth. Still, it's often difficult to gather accurate data.
Whether it’s because the current process is clunky or managers don’t prioritize accurate data collection, you need to improve compliance to get the right data to grow your business. Use these tips to fix errors in your staff data collection processes and improve the reliability of your business data.
Train Staff
The first and most basic step businesses need to take to fix staff data collection processes is to train and re-train staff. Often, the tasks that make up company data aren’t considered necessary by staff. They don’t analyze the data and don’t see the data being used in their day-to-day tasks. Training and educating staff on the importance of data collection needs to be the first step that employers take when attempting to fix errors in staff data collection. This reminder to accurately and consistently collect data can help errors caused by employee neglect. When staff understand the necessity of accurately logging data, they are more apt to complete those tasks.
Ensure Compliance
Once employees are educated and trained on data collection and processes, employers need to create a system that ensures compliance long term. When there’s no follow up or feedback, managers just assume gathering data is no longer a necessity. Creating a system that addresses compliance issue helps keep the importance of data collection at the forefront of managers and staff minds.
For example, if you want to get better data on employee timekeeping but ten percent of timekeeping is completed by the manager, not the employee, you may choose to incorporate employee compliance with timekeeping practices into their annual review. Creating a carrot and stick system that ensures compliance is necessary for increasing the accuracy of your data.
Get a Better System
How are you collecting data? If you’re still relying on paper time sheets and employees scouring records at the end of the month, you need to get a better system. Workforce management systems can help companies save time and money by increasing the quality of data and reducing employee hours spent collecting that data.
With a workforce management system, employers can track inventory, time, and productivity without requiring additional work from staff. When you want to fix errors found in your staff data collection processes, you need to improve your system, making it easier to collect data seamlessly.
Automate
When you rely on employees to collect data, you not only add to their already overburdened workload but also introduce human error into the equation. No matter how careful an employee may be, relying solely on employee extrapolation of data can result in inaccuracies. Automating your data collection process can eliminate that risk of human error. Reports can be generated from data automatically placed into the system and transmitted to appropriate personnel on a schedule.
There are simple steps you can take to ensure you have the best data possible regarding your staff and processes. By training staff, ensuring compliance, and automating your data collection, businesses can get much more accurate data that can be used to improve their productivity and use of their resources. When those three steps are addressed, finding a more intuitive and inclusive workforce management system can further help ensure businesses fix errors in their staff data collection processes.
