Nowadays, everyone is wondering about what the future workplace will look like. The millennial generation is taking over the global workforce, and their preferences are giving birth to new trends. Remote work is becoming more relevant by the day in the business world. People who work remotely have the option of working from home or another place of their choice. However, work from home no longer appeals to everyone.

Tracking the number of hours your employees work is essential to measure their productivity and overtime hours. It also comes in handy when you have to pay employees based on billable hours. But how do you track employee hours? One way is to use a Google Sheets timesheet to record employee work hours manually. In this article, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of using a Google Sheets timesheet and help you select a good timesheet template.

India has become one of the most sought-after offshoring destinations in the world, even outranking some countries in Latin America and Eastern Europe. For some companies, offshoring to India is a strategic necessity for cost savings. For others, it is a ticket to expand their overseas operations. In this article, we will explore why offshoring to India is increasingly popular and highlight five major companies engaged in the practice.

A call center policy is a document that defines standard guidelines for working at a call or contact center. It sets out the rules regarding employee attendance, breaks, electronic device usage, and more. Here’s a call center policy template that you can download and customize based on your requirements.

Offshoring involves moving your operations partly or completely abroad to save costs while growing your business. This helps companies gain a competitive advantage in their home country. But from communication delays to security risks, offshoring can have some potential negative effects on your business. In this article, we’ll explore the seven most common disadvantages of offshoring and suggest ways to overcome them.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses of all sizes are taking every possible step to stay profitable, including outsourcing some of their business activities to offshore partners. Offshore outsourcing helps companies save costs and gain a competitive advantage in their industries. However, it can also bring in challenges due to time zone differences, cultural barriers, and foreign regulations. In this article, we’ll talk about offshore outsourcing pros and cons in depth.

With modern-day technology making the world more connected and accessible, businesses are no longer bound by the geographical and legal constraints of the country they operate in. This has led to several US and European companies, like Microsoft and Transocean, setting up offshore companies in India to benefit from lower costs, skilled talent, and quality results. But why is India a popular offshoring destination?

For all U.S. based companies or companies with employees in the U.S., FLSA compliance is a major responsibility. Ask anyone in HR or leadership and they will tell you how important it is. In the same breath, they’ll also tell you how time consuming it can be. Operating a remote business can make FLSA compliance even more difficult. With the recent increase in remote work, many companies are struggling with questions on how to stay compliant in their new remote or hybrid work environments.

If you operate a call center, whether it’s a start-up or an established business, you need to have certain call center policy and procedures. Developed with the help of relevant subject matter experts, it helps secure your organization and its stakeholders and provides the foundations for smooth call center operations. Policies guide your employees to reach the company’s long-term goals.

A call center break policy highlights guidelines related to the breaks agents take during their work period. It defines certain rules so that agents can get some rest without their breaks having a negative impact on their productivity and the overall customer experience. Here’s a call center break policy that you can customize and make a part of your employee handbook: (Note: A downloadable version of this call center policy is available at the bottom of the template.)

A call center security policy is a document that provides comprehensive rules, plans, and security protocols that regulate access to the organization’s network. An excellent security policy ensures information security and the protection of the organization and individual agents. Here’s a comprehensive call center security policy you can download and customize to suit your needs today.

If you’re a business owner looking to grow your company, then offshoring could be the right choice for you. It’s one of the best cost saving strategies that organizations use to expand their business operations. But cost savings is just one of the many benefits of offshoring. In this article, we’ll highlight the six key benefits of offshoring. We’ll then explore what offshoring is and how it differs from outsourcing.

Gone are the days when companies did everything on their own. Powered by globalization and technological advancement, offshoring business operations has become increasingly popular among several companies. They move their business activities to a foreign country to benefit from cost savings and highly-skilled workforces. But is offshoring right for your business?

The annual ICMI Contact Center Expo, which took place virtually last month, featured an agenda of enlightening presentations on the state of the call center industry. While nearly every presentation over the two-day event mentioned the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the industry, one presentation in particular took a deep dive into what has changed since the pandemic and what it means for the future.

Time Doctor’s overview dashboards provide real-time data to managers and teams at their fingertips. Our dashboards create maximum visibility into the most important insights and summaries for managers and users at the daily, weekly, or monthly levels. We have two different dashboards: the Team Dashboard mostly used by managers and those who are delegated as admins in Time Doctor, and the User Dashboard that employees can use to monitor their own work autonomously.

A call center phone policy is a document that aims to regulate a call center employee’s cell phone usage during work hours. An effective employee cell phone policy not only boosts agent productivity but also helps protect sensitive call center data. Here’s a call center phone policy that you can customize for your needs and include in your employee handbook: (Note: A downloadable version of this work policy is available at the bottom of the template.)

Outsourcing certain aspects of a project is a suitable option for companies looking to save money or scale up quickly. But you might be wondering, do I always need to outsource to a country located on the other side of the world? Can it be done closer to home? If you have similar questions, you’re in the right place. Yes, you can outsource your software development and other tasks to your neighboring country.

You’re a small business owner, but you don’t know what the most common financial risks your company might be exposed to are. Whether you are an online business or a brick-and-mortar store, without the right information you might make a bad decision. Here we explain the 10 financial risks every small business should be aware of and start planning for the future. Before we get to that, let’s review some statistics. Small businesses form an integral part of a country’s economy.

Employees can have many reasons for tardiness or absence. Some of them include personal or family emergencies, transportation issues, etc. But as an employer, you must have an accurate record of each employee’s attendance for productivity and payroll management. So how do you keep track of all these absences and indicate the reason for each? By using employee attendance calendars.

Timesheet conversion is essential for businesses that track employee hours. Turning standard tracked time (hours and minutes) into decimal time makes payroll calculation a lot easier for companies. However, many firms have trouble with accurately calculating decimal time, resulting in problems when compensating employees. But don’t worry! In this article, we’ll tell you why timesheet conversion is important and how you can convert time for the payroll process.

Business owners have now realized the benefits of outsourcing certain tasks to virtual assistants. A virtual assistant (VA) adds tremendous value to their business and reduces their operational costs as they work from a virtual office. However, if you’re thinking of becoming a VA, setting up your virtual assistant business without proper guidance may seem daunting. That’s where virtual assistant training programs come in.

Managing employee tardiness, unscheduled and unexcused absence, etc., can be difficult in any business. These unscheduled leaves negatively impact employee productivity, team performance, and consequently, the firm’s income. Fortunately, you can solve these attendance issues by creating an absence policy. In this article, we’ll tell you what an effective absence policy will include and why you need one. We’ll also share a sample absence policy template for reference.

The annual ICMI Contact Center Expo provided valuable lessons for the future of call center operations. This year’s International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) Contact Center Expo was a little bit different than in years past. Instead of gathering at a large convention center in a major city, hundreds of contact center industry experts gathered at their computers to connect digitally.

With the arrival of the Internet of Things comes several innovations that help companies save time and money. One of the coolest of these is the rise of the ‘cyber secretary,’ or virtual assistant. Rather than paying a hefty salary, offering bonuses, and dishing out more benefits to an in-house employee, you can now reduce costs by hiring remote employees by investing in virtual assistant software programs to streamline your processes.

Working remotely has become the new normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With so many employees working from home, team managers need a remote work plan or policy to ensure that their employees stay productive. But how do you create an effective remote work plan? In this article, we’ll tell you how to build a remote work plan and what to include in it. We’ll also share a free downloadable remote work plan template to help you get started.

With the changing times, workplace norms and employee demands have evolved as well. Employees now prefer a flexible work arrangement like the compressed workweek or remote work over the standard nine-to-fiver. And if you’re considering allowing flexible working hours or flextime for your employees, you should set guidelines that clarify how it works in your company. How do you do that? By creating a flex time policy.

Today, many business owners face a dilemma — should you prioritize core tasks or answer customer calls? Fortunately, by hiring a virtual phone assistant, you can ensure you have enough time to focus on core activities while still attending important business calls. It can be IVR (Interactive Voice Response) or real people taking calls on your company’s behalf so you can focus on critical activities.

If you’re searching for the best paperless timesheet solution, you’re in the right place! Whether you’re a business owner looking for an easy way to record employee hours or a freelancer who needs to track hours to bill clients accurately, timesheets may be the answer. But traditional paper-based timesheets are outdated and leave too much room for errors. Thankfully, there’s a better solution — using timesheet software.

Productivity tracking plays a vital role in enhancing an employee’s performance. It helps you identify unproductive activities, and avoiding them can boost the employee’s performance and improve the organization’s overall efficiency. In this article, we’ll go over how you can use a productivity report to keep track of your team’s performance, with a free printable employee productivity report template to help you get started.

Although remote working has been on the rise in recent years, it experienced unprecedented growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden shift had people worldwide straining themselves to adapt to this new work environment. Businesses faced multiple challenges to keep up with the change and move online to continue functioning. Thankfully, with the right remote work software, you can adapt to this shift with ease.

Most business owners hire virtual assistants to handle their administrative support, email marketing, and other non-core business activities efficiently. But with hundreds of sites offering virtual assistant services, how do you find the right one? To help you out, we’ll highlight the three key features to look for in a virtual assistant website and review the 25 best virtual assistant websites for finding skilled VAs.