In, Out, shake it all about systems ...

Savvy_Sue

I'm talking for being In or Out of the office.

Would appreciate tips on what other people do: we're currently all in one building, and we have a large magnetic whiteboard. In theory everyone moves a magnet to show if they're In, Out but Working, or Out not Working. If they're Out but Working, they say what they're up to, and when they'll be back; if they're Out not Working they say when they'll be back.

And again in theory, I can just turn my head and see what anyone's up to if we get a phone call for them.

In practice of course people forget to move their magnets or say when they'll be back, so I end up calling into the next office if I'm not sure.

And to make matters worse, we're about to expand into the building next door, so some of my colleagues will become invisible.

So, any suggestions for how we keep tabs on where people are?

paddyrg

Where they are? Or where they should be? Or what they're doing?

Phones can be used to track people if where they are is core. Add it to the terms of employment and use cell tower tracking if you want to check on where someone actually is within a broad radius (fewer privacy concerns). Or give everyone smartphones so who cares where they are as long as the job is getting done and they keep on top of emails?

Savvy_Sue

paddyrg wrote: »

Where they are? Or where they should be? Or what they're doing?

A bit of all 3 really!

Where they are, so that we don't sound too unprofessional when a call comes in for them: "Oh, I'll just check, it says they are in but I think I heard them go out just now" or "Ah, it says they are out and I have absolutely no idea when they are next due in" etc.

Where they should be: they sometimes need to call in after a visit to say they are OK and signing off - not all visits, just some which have that kind of risk assessment.

What they're doing: only in so far as it helps with 1 and 2!

paddyrg wrote: »

Phones can be used to track people if where they are is core. Add it to the terms of employment and use cell tower tracking if you want to check on where someone actually is within a broad radius (fewer privacy concerns). Or give everyone smartphones so who cares where they are as long as the job is getting done and they keep on top of emails?

There is no concern about the job getting done: you don't come to work for us unless you are pretty passionate about the work.

Some of them struggle to drive a normal phone / computer, so giving them smart phones might not help! Plus that wouldn't necessarily help with the actual 'who's in the building?' question which also needs to be answered from time to time.

paddyrg

I think the problem, then, can be hit two ways - via culture or technology. Needless to say, culture is cheaper to implement, so here's the technology options/musings (but also try seeing if the techie board have any ideas) first, kick around some ideas, most of which will be terrible...

RFID/swipe entry systems - crude, inaccurate (people will let others in on their swipe) but has the side benefit of adding a little security. Wildly expensive for most companies, but may provide a partial solution. Time cards (like the clock in/clock out blue collar systems) have a similar purpose - who is in the building at any time - but are not convenient to read. Phone tracking, the more impersonal tracking options silently poll the handset on request (and it can be any handset, not a smartphone) via the network they use - but can be quite costly.

Oh, and look at making better use of shared (electronic) calendars, so whoever needs to can see where someone at least *should* be. Holidays and visits logged in calendars will give you an at-a-glance answer to where Mary is now, if she is on a site visit, etc.

Cultural change would be cheaper, but harder work. At the moment, people have no motivation to manage the magnets on the board, so how do you incentivise them? Sanctions forthe ones that flake out, or rewards for those that manage to do it? Pay based on in/out timecards, to keep people focussed? Feels a bit 'primary school', but then employees can be such children at times. Can you have a gatekeeper whose in charge of who's in/out and follow-up calls for site visits? They can do some general admin too, but part of their role will be ensuring the 'at a glance' board is accurate?

The shared online calendars thing though, as a miinimum, will make your life 100x better, and you probably already have the technology/capability so then it comes down to fostering a community of people doing it. If you can put it in terms of people showing enough care for their colleagues to keep it updated, and let them understand the benefit it has for them too (their clients can be cared for better) you may stand a chance. But if they have got into a rut of not having to bother telling anyone, it will be a battle, even if they mean well.

Horace

Definitely sharing online calendars - as long as they keep them updated you should be able to see where they are. I know when I worked at the University, we used Outlook and people would grant me permission to view their diaries and to make appointments in them. Or if they didnt want to give permission then they could print out a diary sheet for the day, or week, so I could see what they were up to.

Another way is to have a signing in and out book so that they physically sign themselves in and out but that may not work because they won't even use the magnetic board.

Eliza_2

In one of my jobs we have a system of key tags, you hang the one with your name on a little board when you're in and take it off when you go out. However like the magnets, people need to remmeber.

Ours are however for fire purposes. If there's a fire, or just a practice, the fire monitor takes the board outside and checks the names of the people against the tags on the board. And woe betide anyone, senior or most junior, who has forgotten to move their tag to the right place. It's now automatic to move your tag, no one wants a bollocking!! Once when we had a real fire (someone tried to make cheese on toast in an ordinary toaster!!) the fire brigade chappie added his bollocking to the one already handed out. It's really important to know who's in the building.

Could you explain that to them and then have a few practices? As you can tell, some of our lot aren't that bright but they soon learnt!!!

Premier_2

Eliza wrote: »

In one of my jobs we have a system of key tags, you hang the one with your name on a little board when you're in and take it off when you go out. However like the magnets, people need to remmeber.

Ours are however for fire purposes. If there's a fire, or just a practice, the fire monitor takes the board outside and checks the names of the people against the tags on the board. And woe betide anyone, senior or most junior, who has forgotten to move their tag to the right place. It's now automatic to move your tag, no one wants a bollocking!! Once when we had a real fire (someone tried to make cheese on toast in an ordinary toaster!!) the fire brigade chappie added his bollocking to the one already handed out. It's really important to know who's in the building.

Could you explain that to them and then have a few practices? As you can tell, some of our lot aren't that bright but they soon learnt!!!

One of our major clients used to always get in trouble with the local fire service for not knowing who was or wasn't in the building. Also being a large site, it could be almost 1/2 hour for someone to get to their designated muster point, without re-entering the buildings, if they were on the opposite side of the site

After years of trying, even the fire service gave up and now accepts a sweeper system; a fire marshal sweeps their floor and reports if it's all clear. Nice, simple and never fails ... and the fire service are happy
(Nots sure why the fire service were so reluctant to accept it for years? :huh:)

In answer to the OP, another one here that shares online diaries

Savvy_Sue

Well, I don't know if it's good news or bad news that I'm not missing anything obvious.

Yes, we use online diaries. Some better than others. I had one colleague who preferred a paper diary, so their idea of updating the online diary was to do it monthly and not put changes in. As they didn't work regular hours, keeping track of when they would next be in was a bit of a nightmare ...

A signing in book could work better for fire purposes, but would need regular bollockings to become effective, and trouble is we're all too nice! We have one of those for visitors, but it's kept downstairs (and better implemented there). But most of us work upstairs, and the book can't be left anywhere too prominent when we have clients in the building.

I think a swipe system for staff would work well if the results were or could be made visible, but I'm not sure we could run to the cost.

If we did have a fire, I reckon we would know who needs to be accounted for. We are only talking 16 staff max upstairs, plus occasional volunteers, and there's only 3 office areas and a toilet.

And to be fair to them, when the fire alarm goes off by mistake, they do get out, even though we usually know it's NOT a real fire before we're out of the door. Unlike university lecturers, who have a habit of locking themselves into their offices whenever there's a fire alarm ...

martindow

I wonder if there is any software which can track which computers are on or logged in on a network. It wouldn't work, of course, if people go out or home leaving the computer on.

James1968

Premier, your place of work must be the size of a large Town. I can walk 2 miles in 30 minutes.

OP, where I work we use swipecards to enter/exit the building/s. As there is no way to leave the building without going through a security door (we do have fire exits, but these all have 'break-bars' on them to prevent them being opened to let fresh air in). All temp staff also have to sign a visitors book as they enter/exit the building.

Those of us with computer access can use MS Communicator to see who is in/out/at a meeting.

At the end of the day, if you secure a building to the point that everyone has to swipe to enter/exit and the list is available on a screen for the receptionist to view, then you can at least track who is in the office.

Such systems can also be used to generate a print-out of who is on site should the fire alarm go off.

Errata

I suggest damn good threatening. A reminder that they are professionals and there is no good reason why they can't work to a professional standard. Delinquency will be dealt with by way of verbal warning, written warning and a boot out of the door.
(that was written by my evil twin)

Get 'em all in a room and tell them they're not escaping until they come up with a workable solution that they will all adhere to, and whilst they're at it they can devise a suitable penalty for miscreants.

I know you work for charirty and that's why everyone is nice, but nice doesn't mean slacking on the job and going against instructions.