5 Best Apps to Help Employees Manage Stress During COVID-19

Posted on

June 29th, 2020

For many employees, the COVID-19 pandemic has reached a turning point. As many states scale back their stay at home orders, certain employees will return to the workplace while others may remain remote depending on the situation. Regardless, it represents yet another change in an already turbulent time. With so much uncertainty, it’s highly likely that the majority of employees are struggling with stress. High levels of tension can tank productivity and morale as well as lead to problems with attendance.

The following apps can help employees manage their stress and anxiety as they enter into a new phase of working during the pandemic:

Stop Panic & Anxiety Self-Help. This self-help app is useful for reminding employees of their strength and ability to overcome panic. It includes a diary to help employees identify and challenge thought patterns that precede panic or anxiety attacks. The app includes reading and audio resources as well to cope with panic as it occurs. Employees can download this app free of charge; however, it’s only available on Android devices.
Headspace. This free app focuses on improving sleep, mood, productivity, and mindfulness through targeted meditation. The app aims to enhance focus, reduce stress, and recognize stress trigger to limit their control over the user’s reactions and emotions. It’s available for Android and iOS users.
Rootd. Similar to Headspace, this app introduces exercises to improve mindfulness as well as tactics to help reduce stress and anxiety. The app also incorporates a handy feature that allows users to call a confidant or emergency service with the press of a button if they’re in distress. This app is free for individuals to download on Android or iOS devices as well.
MyLife (formerly known as Stop, Breathe, & Think). This mindfulness app differs from the above by tracking the user’s mood and making recommendations to help them at that moment. Once the user checks in with how they’re feeling, the app may recommend specific relaxation exercises, meditation, and more to help achieve a more positive frame of mind. This app is free for Android and iOS users.
Dare—Break Free From Anxiety. Avoiding stress and anxiety often makes the situation worse. This app helps employees to exist alongside their stressors, worries, and fears without being consumed by them. Employees can follow along with guided content as they face their stress head-on.

Managing employee stress will be vital to resuming business operations, sustaining productivity, and keeping absenteeism in check. To learn more about absence management, contact the experts at Actec.

Absence Reporting During and Beyond the Pandemic

Posted on

June 22nd, 2020

Andrew

COVID-19 has created new challenges for businesses in several areas, one of which is absence management. As many businesses begin a phased return to the office while others are maintaining their remote staff, keeping track of absences and leave requests can quickly become confusing. Prior to COVID-19, it was common practice to urge sick employees to stay home. Now, it’s less a matter of should symptomatic employees stay home and more an issue of when it’s safe for them to return to the workplace and how that affects leave and absence policies.

Federally Protected Leave and Emerging Programs

Federally protected leave programs like FMLA, disability leave, and so on still apply during COVID-19. However, the U.S. Department of Labor issued two new forms of leave to address the challenges created by the pandemic: the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act.

Both fall under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which grants up to 80 hours of paid sick leave to employees who have to quarantine due to a government order or at the recommendation of their physician. Employees experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking treatment also qualify for this kind of leave.

FFCRA also offers up to 80 hours of paid sick leave at two-thirds of employees’ regular income if they are unable to work because they have to care for a quarantined individual or child due to school and childcare closures. Employees can seek an additional 10 weeks of paid leave at two-thirds of their regular income if their child’s school/care facilities remain closed due to COVID-19 so long as they have been employed for at least 30 days. FFCRA is available through the end of the 2020 calendar year and employers can acquire a payroll tax credit for 100% of the amount.

Tracking Employee Leave Requests

Tracking leave requests, remaining compliant with shifting Federal and state employee leave laws, all while keeping the workforce healthy will quickly overwhelm HR departments. Actec developed the app Absence 365 to meet businesses’ absence management needs during these stressful times. This customizable app allows employees to submit leave requests and centralizes all absence notifications in one location. In addition to remaining compliant, the app can also help employers recognize trends to enact effective change within their company. Contact us to learn how we can help meet your business’ absence management needs.

How Flexible Schedules Can Benefit Your Business

Posted on

June 17th, 2020

Andrew

Absenteeism in the workplace is a challenge all businesses need to be ready to take head-on. Letting attendance problems slide can lead to a productivity crisis as well as spread like an infection to other employees. However, preventing absenteeism is a lot simpler than many companies realize. By implementing flexible schedules, employers can see an uptick in punctuality, productivity, and more.

Reducing Tardiness, Early Departures, and Absenteeism

Employees that work traditional nine to five jobs suffer through rush hour traffic on the front and backend of their workday. This can cause them to arrive late or duck out early to avoid it. Spending hours of their day in traffic can also lead to resentment and burnout. By allowing employees to shift their schedules to an earlier or later time, they can avoid rush hour and find a better work-life balance. Happier employees are more punctual and less likely to call out of work as well.

More Productive Employees

Allowing employees to set their own schedules gives them agency and improves engagement. Often, they get more work done than usual because they’re in a better mood and not struggling with work weariness. If your business doesn’t have to adhere to strict, traditional work hours, you can reap the benefits of improved productivity such as better workplace morale and more profits.

Recruit Top Candidates

Having a flexible schedule is a much sought after benefit and can attract top tier job candidates. Having the ability to set their own schedule can entice applicants away from the competition as well. In addition, employers don’t typically have to worry about absenteeism from high-quality applicants. This saves time and money by reducing employee turnover rates.

Making the change to flexible scheduling may seem radical to many businesses, especially if they’ve always operated during traditional work hours. However, it doesn’t have to be the scheduling nightmare it seems like with the proper tools. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about our absence management solutions.

Are Your Call Centers Improving FNOL or Hurting Customer Retention?

Posted on

June 15th, 2020

Andrew

It’s a well-known industry fact that first notice of loss (FNOL) is the single greatest opportunity to secure customer satisfaction during a claim. It’s also often a distressing time for the customer as they are reporting a loss. With emotions running high, a lackluster or poor FNOL experience can stain a customer’s perception of and loyalty to his or her insurance provider.

Uncontrollable elements also affect FNOL, such as the time the loss occurs. Accidents, thefts, and other damages don’t always occur during normal business hours. In order to offer customers around the clock service, many insurers invest in call centers. This gives them the ability to offer assistance to insureds whenever their loss may occur as well as handle a large volume of calls to prevent delays. However, many of these call centers operate through offshore channels. While offshore call centers typically come with a lower price tag, they also include several hassles that can damage customer satisfaction and retention.

The Benefits of Nearshore Call Centers

Nearshore call centers share many similarities with offshore options with a few key differences. Nearshore call centers still offer 24/7 service all year round, but the intake agents work in much closer proximity to the insurer than many traditional offshore entities. Because these agents are in a similar or closer time zone, communication with the insurer is much easier and faster. This expedites the claims process, allowing insurers to begin the next steps on a shorter timeline. It’s also easier to guarantee the quality of customer service.

Actec’s Nearshore Contact Center Solution

Customers need to have the ability to file claims whenever they occur. Following a loss, many customers will only have access to their phones. This likely means they will initiate FNOL through their insurer’s call center. Actec understands customers expect a hassle-free experience and having a high-quality call center contributes enormously toward that outcome.

Actec’s nearshore call center operates 100% through US-based phone systems and any recorded data remains within the US. In addition to adhering to stringent IT standards, our nearshore facilities are also PCI compliant. We strive to provide secure, high-quality call center services that offer scalability to keep pace with your company as it grows. To learn more about improving the call center experience at an affordable rate, contact the experts at Actec.

Managing Absences through COVID-19: New Mobile App

Posted on

June 8th, 2020

Andrew

Absence reporting and absence management have become increasingly complex during the COVID-19 pandemic. How has your organization been adapting? In the past, getting a complete picture of your absence data required phone calls to various managers. Most companies had little idea which employees showed up to work on a given day.

By customizing a mobile app to the needs of each individual organization, employees become empowered to understand and communicate the nature of their absences – a self service tool funneling all absence notifications to come to one centralized location.

With leave laws constantly changing in today’s environment, having a central reporting tool and managing those absences can prove critical to ensuring regulatory compliance. This data can even support business analytics, providing insight into the efficiency levels and workplace dynamics of offices around the globe.

Want to know more about absence reporting mobile apps? Contact us to discuss how they can support and enhance your organization.

Artificial Intelligence Improves Customer Satisfaction

Posted on

May 25th, 2020

Andrew

As technology improved over the past several years, the concept of filing insurance claims online shifted from a bonus to an expectation. Customers want to be able to initiate a claim from wherever they happen to be with whatever device is at their disposal. While many insurance providers kept pace with this demand by offering client portals and online apps, customer expectations have shifted yet again.

Insureds now require seamless communication with their carrier as well as services personalized to their lifestyles and needs. They also place a premium on rapid claims resolutions and settlements. Thanks to advances in artificial technology (AI) and machine learning, these goals are much easier to achieve.

AI can improve customer satisfaction in the following ways:

Create insurance options in line with needs. AI’s single most powerful capability is gathering data and parsing it for commonalities, red flags, trends, etc. Harnessing data from the natural workflow of the insurance industry can provide insights on customer preferences based on their habits as well as their stage in life (i.e. homeowners, growing families, travel-oriented customers, etc.). AI can even determine the best time and method to offer these products as some consumers may prefer email communication while others would rather communicate via text message.
Improve communication regarding purchased products. AI can provide basic customer service as chatbots either online or over the phone. Many customers have routine questions regarding their coverage that the bot can answer quickly to free up insurance representatives’ time as well as reduce wait times for customers. These bots can also often provide basic counseling regarding existing products and potentially offer recommendations for additional products that may meet the customer’s needs better.
Reduce fraud. Insurance fraud doesn’t just cost carriers money in misrepresented claims and settlements. Those claims also take up valuable time and drive up the costs of insurance for other customers as well. By utilizing AI during insurance claims, the technology can recognize voice patterns that indicate deception and flag the case for further review. AI can also analyze data and identify trends that are typical of fraudulent claims and flag those files as well.
Settle claims faster. Most insurance claims require a lot of documentation, some of which many insurers still perform by hand. By digitizing typical forms and paperwork, AI can eliminate the manual filing of forms and documents. This allows insurance agents to close more claims in less time.

By harnessing the power of data, insurance companies can enhance their workflow, boost efficiency, and improve customer satisfaction. To learn more about claim and document management technology, contact the experts at Actec.

4 Tips to Improve Productivity While Working from Home

Posted on

May 18th, 2020

Andrew

For many employees, the shift to working 100% from home has been a challenging one. Many are working alongside their spouse with limited office space while others have their children’s homeschool schedules to manage in addition to their work responsibilities. Some may be caring for at-risk family members or struggling with isolation if they live alone. Working from home with little notice due to COVID-19 has its hurdles, but employers and employees can take the following steps to maximize their productivity.

Create a general schedule for everyone. An employee’s work schedule no longer exists in the insulated walls of their work building. They need to outline what the new daily routine will look like to include sleep schedules, work hours, school obligations, meal times, outdoor/recreation time, screen time, and more. Employees may need rigid hours or flexible time slots to make a schedule work for their family. However, having a basic plan for how the day will unfold can help keep everyone on track and keep chaos to a minimum.
Accept that work will be different than it was before. Trying to force an office building-oriented routine onto a working-from-the-kitchen-table scenario will fail every time. Employees will only be able to complete a certain amount of work if there are several other people living at home with them. Limited office space, a significant increase in the relative volume level, limited access to previous resources and tools, and a host of distractions will drastically overhaul the appearance of a typical workday. Employers and employees will need a significant degree of flexibility to avoid burnout.
Schedule work hours and stick to them. Having other people around such as a spouse, extended family members, or children can derail a workday without much effort. It’s important for the employee to establish clear work hours and let everyone know they are unavailable to chat or play during that time frame barring emergencies.
Outline a weekly work plan. With more things competing with employee’s time while working from home, outlining a plan for each day can help. Having a schedule lets employees know exactly what they need to do when they sit down at their computer rather than wasting rare uninterrupted time figuring out where to start. Several online project management tools can help with this.

Finding ways to improve productivity, engagement, and morale can help reduce employees’ stress, the likelihood of burnout, and attendance problems. To learn more about managing attendance with a remote workforce, contact the experts at Actec.

First Notice of Loss: Reducing Claim Severity

Posted on

May 11th, 2020

Andrew

First Notice of Loss (FNOL) is the single greatest opportunity an insurance provider has to establish good

customer satisfaction. If the FNOL process is clunky, stressful, or in any way frustrating when the insured is already in an agitated state, it’s very difficult to regain their confidence. However, much of the problem lies with when an insured initiates FNOL. Few opt to report a loss at the scene of an accident often because the accident rattled them or they aren’t sure who’s at fault.

Capturing On-the-Scene FNOL Data

When an insured begins FNOL from the scene of the loss, it allows the insurance provider to take immediate steps to begin the repair process. They can dispatch a tow truck and coordinate a direct delivery to a repair facility. This reduces the overall time it takes to close the claim as well as reduces expenses related to retrieving inoperable vehicles on the insured’s behalf.

Of course, this is reliant upon the insured initiating FNOL immediately after an accident. While insurance carriers can’t control the insured’s behavior, they can utilize FNOL automation technology and vehicle telematics from in-vehicle sensors to detect that an accident occurred before the insured places the call to their insurance provider. Whether through on-board diagnostic devices, data from connected vehicles, or relying on smartphone sensors, insurance carriers have a number of options for detecting accidents and getting ahead of a claim.

Reducing Fraud During FNOL

Telematics can be particularly helpful as the data can provide details the insured may not remember following an accident such as the exact time and location of the crash. Having these details within the hour of a loss is also an effective means of reducing fraud. Details can become sketchy or incomplete the longer an insured waits to report an accident and telematics eliminates several areas of ambiguity.

FNOL is a critical moment during any claim for both the insured and their provider. When managed swiftly and efficiently, insurance providers can reduce claim costs while improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. To learn more about improving claim intake and management, contact the experts at Actec.

How to Improve Employee Engagement During COVID-19

Posted on

May 4th, 2020

Andrew

A popular statistic that makes the rounds among business leaders is that 71% of executives say that employee engagement is critical to their organization’s success. The statistic comes from a report by the Harvard Business Review, but there are other salient facts from that report that often go unmentioned. While almost three-quarters of executives indicated employee engagement is vital to a successful company, 76% reported most of their employees aren’t highly engaged.

Workplace Myths Hindering Employee Engagement

There is a persistent myth that employees crave feedback. While it’s true employees appreciate recognition for their work, it’s rare they enjoy receiving constructive feedback or critiques. It also doesn’t do much to improve performance. The reason for this is that it puts the individual into a fight or flight brain space, which impedes learning. It’s more effective to show employees in greater and better details what they can do going forward rather than focusing on what they’re not doing or how they’re falling short of expectations.

Another common myth is that employees care about their organization’s culture. Many employers invest a lot of time into cultivating a company culture that reflects the business’ values. While this isn’t a bad thing to have in regards to branding for customers, clients, or investors, employees don’t care as much as employers might like to think they do. For many employees, they relate more to the individuals they interact with daily than they do to the organization as a whole. While a toxic culture can bring down the best of teams, a positive culture won’t necessarily drive engagement on its own.

What employees care about is whether their work is invigorating or fatiguing, whether they receive support from their peers or not, and whether or not they have opportunities to grow and innovate. Company culture can affect those things, but teams are more likely to have a greater effect. Employees interact with their team members on a regular basis and it’s those interactions that can make or break productivity and engagement.

Engaging a Remote Workforce

COVID-19 created new hurdles for employers trying to engage their workforce. Many employees are struggling with feelings of isolation and a new host of challenges while trying to manage their workload from home, often without their usual resources.

Communication is key to keeping morale up during this unpredictable time. Providing employees with regular updates about the status of the company, even if there is nothing new to report, can ease feelings of anxiety and fear of the unknown. Understanding the difficulties they’re facing and empathizing with them as well as letting them know what resources are available to them can help keep the workforce calm.

Improving morale can be as simple as being more vocal in recognition of hard work. Company leadership taking a more visible role can show employees how executives are coping with the changes to the workplace as well as their struggles. Encouraging virtual social interaction such as weekly coffee chats to start the workday can give employees something to look forward to and remain engaged with their work.

COVID-19 will continue to affect businesses, forcing many to work remotely without a clear end date in sight. Businesses that fail to take proactive steps to keep their employees engaged will notice slips in productivity, dips in morale, and problems with absenteeism as employees mentally check out of their job. To learn more about engagement and other factors that affect absenteeism, contact the experts at Actec.

4 Ways to Determine If Management Is Causing High Absenteeism

Posted on

April 27th, 2020

Andrew

Seasoned managers don’t allow themselves to get too hung up on whether their employees like them or not. While it’s good to foster positive communication and a good working relationship with employees, management isn’t there to win popularity contests. However, when company leaders are actively unpleasant, it can tank productivity and cause attendance problems such as tardiness, ducking out early, or calling out of work altogether.

If employee retention, attendance, and engagement are down across the board, it may be time to take a closer look at leadership styles. The following red flags can indicate the absenteeism problem isn’t because of the employees, but because of their managers or team leads:

Employees avoid management at all costs. Employees may be intimidated by casual conversation with the boss, but it’s another thing altogether if they go to great lengths to avoid any encounter. For example, they may vacate common areas when management enters them, avoid meetings/sit as far as possible from management during meetings, or find an excuse to skip out on company events that put them in close proximity with management.
Small talk is forced and awkward. Small talk happens throughout the day, but unhappy employees may clam up abruptly around management. If they refuse to discuss even the most superficial topics with company leadership, it may be a sign that something is amiss.
They don’t offer to help. Employees are aware of their workflow and many will offer to help with related tasks to keep projects on schedule. It shows initiative and many companies view it as a positive trait and reward it accordingly. When employees are at odds with management, however, they won’t extend aid for one of two reasons. Either they don’t feel like they should help someone who is antagonistic to them or they are afraid to speak up to make the offer.
Attendance becomes a problem. It can start small, like employees leaving the second work hours are over even if projects are incomplete for deadlines. They may begin to sneak out five minutes early or take longer breaks. They might start calling in sick on a frequent basis, which hurts productivity and the morale of the remaining staff.

One employee exhibiting the above signs may be indicative of a problem with that particular individual. However, if employers notice numerous employees are showing symptoms, it may be time to take a closer look at company management and their leadership styles. Recognizing the signs of an unhappy staff can allow leaders to address the problem before it devolves into widespread absenteeism. To learn more about absence management, contact the experts at Actec.