In these uncertain times, we want to remind you that BrightHR is here to help you manage the COVID-19 pandemic in your workplace.
Here, we break down all our expert software and services and how they can help to support your business during this challenging time.
BrightHR: Our smart HR software
Log sickness with ease
The government recently announced that, for companies with fewer than 250 staff, they’ll refund Statutory Sick Pay (related to coronavirus) for up to two weeks.
While emergency legislation hasn’t been updated to cover this yet, it’s important that you start keeping a record of all coronavirus-related absences in your workplace. And BrightHR’s software makes it easier for you to do this.
Whenever an employee’s off work because of the coronavirus, you can log their absence type as ‘Sickness’ or ‘Other’. Then in the notes, you can jot down whether they have symptoms or are self-isolating as a precaution.
For example, if an employee’s self-isolating but continuing to work, you can log their absence as ‘Other’ and record their status in the notes.
To get a clear record of all absences including both fixed and variable hour employees, download the Absence Report in BrightHR. You can filter the report by absence type and see any notes made against ‘Sickness or ‘Other’ absences.
We also wanted to let you know that we’re working round the clock to add a new feature that tracks working status for employees who are working from different locations. We’ll update you with more information soon.
Update staff on rota changes
It’s likely that the COVID-19 outbreak will impact your usual schedule and mean that you’ll have to change your rota more frequently. Keeping everyone updated on the changes is challenging but you don’t need to worry, because BrightHR will update your staff for you.
Whenever you make a change to your rota because of coronavirus-related absences, BrightHR sends an automatic push notification to your staff—so they always know where to turn up and when.
Access documents remotely
BrightHR’s secure cloud-based software makes it easier for your employees to access essential documents remotely, which is especially important if your staff are working from home.
You can upload new files as and when your people need them, and as BrightHR’s document storage is unlimited, you don’t have to worry about running out of storage space.
Record holiday carryover in no time
The government has announced updates to holiday carryover laws as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Under these new regulations, workers can carry over up to four weeks unused annual leave for the next two years if they can’t take annual leave because of the coronavirus.
As a result of this new update, you need to start tracking staff holiday carryover immediately—and BrightHR makes this easier.
All you have to do is head to your employee’s profile and select the right leave year from the drop-down menu on the Absence tab. Click Update carryover and enter the amount of leave you want to carry over, then hit Save. BrightHR then automatically updates your employee’s holiday entitlement for that year. Simple.
Blip: Clever clocking in and out app
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, having staff working from home has become more of a reality for everyone. To help you manage remote working in your business, we’ve worked tirelessly to bring forward our new Blip release.
Our new geolocation feature will now be available to you in the next few days (you’ll get a notification in the app) and it’ll make it easier for you to track your employees’ hours and working location when they’re working remotely.
To find out more about this new feature and how it’ll help you, read our in-depth feature release blog. You can also download the Blip app now, on iOS and Android, if you haven’t already.
Download Blip timesheet reports
To help you keep a record of your staff working hours (whether at home or in the office), you can download a Blip timesheet report through BrightHR.
As it’s an early access feature, you’ll have to enable it in BrightLabs. To do this, head to Settings, select the BrightLabs tab and click Enable next to Blip timesheet report.
Once you’ve done that, head to Reports and find the Blip timesheet and select Generate new report. From there, you can choose a date range and the employees you want to include in the report. Save it as a CSV file to finish.
BrightAdvice: 24/7 employment law advice
BrightAdvice customers can call our employment law experts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for advice on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our qualified, UK-based advisors can give you practical and up-to-date guidance on such things as Statutory Sick Pay, working from home and self-isolation. Call them now on 0800 783 2806.
BrightInform: HR document and template library
BrightInform customers have access to a full library of expertly-written content on the coronavirus. Here are just some of the resources available to you right now:
- Eight essential coronavirus Q&As
- Coronavirus Recovery Plan Policy
- Guidance on managing coronavirus issues at work
- Business Continuity Planning Guidance Policy
- Pandemic Recovery Plan Policy
To download up-to-date policies and guides on the coronavirus, log into your BrightInform now.
We’ll also be constantly updating BrightInform with new guides and templates to make sure you have the latest information on the COVID-19 pandemic—so log in regularly.
Bright Wellbeing and counselling service
It’s extremely important during a crisis such as this one, that you safeguard your employees’ mental health as well as their physical health.
As a Bright Wellbeing & Counselling customer, your employees and their immediate families have access to a 24/7 confidential care line for physical and mental health support.
And remember, this service is available to you too. So if you’d like to speak to someone about any of the difficulties you’re facing right now, you can get confidential and compassionate support from our qualified counsellors. Call them on 0800 783 2806.
Not a BrightHR customer? To find out more about our software and services and how they can help you manage COVID-19 in your workplace, call us now on 0800 783 2806.