How Better Communication Makes HR Run Smoother

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How Better Communication Makes HR Run Smoother

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Communication is crucial to every business in every industry – never more so than in human resources.

Connecting employees, managing prospects and incorporating policy into the existing infrastructure is the core mission of most HR departments.

Luckily technology has evolved so that all of these tasks can be made easier, faster and more efficient.

It all starts with a modern telephone system.

But a telephone system isn’t exactly groundbreaking new technology, right?

If that is your initial thought, chances are your phone network is woefully out of date.

Follow this guide to making communication central to your HR strategy.

Your old phone network isn’t cutting it – you need to graduate to an IP system!

IP Telephone Networks and Unified Communications

As discussed in the article “Why Every Business is in the Communication Business,” the concept of unified communications, or UC, should be the goal of every office and every HR department.

This is only possible if your telephone network is based on IP technology.

Telephone systems that don’t use the Internet to route calls can’t incorporate software into their platform.

Traditional setups miss out on the incredible opportunities offered by unified communications.

IP networks can incorporate talk, text, teleconferencing, video messaging, live chat, email transcription and even faxing into the same system.

 

True Mobility: When UC Platforms and Software Unite

So, it’s been established that IP phone networks modified for unified communications offer more features than any traditional phone network based on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) ever could.

But for the modern office, which incorporates mobile devices and may have employees who telecommute or work in the field, the right software can allow a UC system to reach every corner of the Earth, no matter where your clients or employees may need it to go.

This is never more obvious than in human resources.

When a hiring manager engages a distant prospect in a video interview, that interview can be recorded and automatically saved onto the HR server.

When candidates email resumes, those resumes can be saved in a database or distributed to the phones of all interested parties.

When company policies are updated, changed or revised, everyone affected by the changes can have the new policy sent to their phones.

When a key employee calls out sick, the UC system can automatically identify and call the people who are off that day who are qualified to replace the absent worker.

True unified communications is only possible with integrated software.

IP phone systems provide far more powerful features at a much lower cost than traditional systems.

They are more flexible and scalable, which is critical for companies that may need to rapidly expand or cut back.

When paired with the right software, IP phone systems become true platforms for integrated unified communications, which can take your human resources to a level of efficiency that would not otherwise be possible.

 

Are My Employees Tips Taxable

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In a special ruling released by SARS it was found that tips paid to employees through the payroll were not taxable.

Background:

  • The applicant customers used cash as their main form and payment and this was seen as a security risk. So much so that employees were not allowed to report for duty with cash on them unless this had been declared to management.
  • All tips received were declared by the employees and paid over to the company. This was to ensure the security of the staff. Staff found with undeclared tips could be disciplined.
  • The tips were recorded and paid into the employees bank account at month end with their salary payment

Special conditions

  • Tips do not form part of their conditions of employment or salary but are seen as reward by the clients for good service delivered.
  • The tips wewould not form of the remuneration calculation for the purpose of UIF or skills
  • The tips would not form part of the calculation for pension or medical benefit calculations

Should the employee leave all outstanding tips would be paid to him with his final salary

  • All tips would be paid out. No tips would be retained by the company

The tips should be paid out through your payroll system. Nothing was said about the tips being part of the IRP 5 certificate. I would keep a record just in case..

My other thought was about tips paid directly to employees ‘I am assuming that these are nontaxable as well.