There’s no doubt that now is a very uncertain time for SMEs.

Many offices have shut due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with teams working remotely. Many SME owners and decision makers are reviewing finances and expenditures. ON the whole, planning for growth has stopped altogether, but remember this is only temporary.

As a Gold accredited partner of Breathe, here at HRCentral we are dedicated to supporting small and medium sized businesses with providing outsourced HR services. That’s why we supply and set up simple, easy-to-use and cost-effective HR software that makes life easier for you as our client, with the added benefit of being able to help you manage your employee paperwork going forwards.

We can easily jump in and update a handbook and policies, provide a policy for read receipt or help with targets and performance management concerns. But more importantly ….

We’d love to show you how Breathe could help your business during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. So, we have shared a blog from Sarah Benstead at Breathe to demonstrate areas of Breathe that could streamline your processes, simplify your HR admin and offer you a helping hand at this challenging time.

12 ways Breathe can help during the COVID-19 pandemic

Benefit from remote use of a cloud-based software package

Breathe is 100% cloud-based, so you can log in from absolutely anywhere with a WiFi connection via an app on either your android or iPhone. We have some how-to docs we can add to your system to assist with the implementation of this. As most people have a smart phone nowadays this means everyone can have access to their HR records.

If, like many other businesses, you’ve started working remotely long-term, having cloud-based software will be especially valuable at this time. Furloughed employees still need access to their docs during this time as they are still employed by the Company.

Store documents in one secure location

Upload and store any important Coronavirus related policies and documents in Breathe.

You and your team (including contractors and furloughed employees) can access these remotely.

Monitor sickness

Having the breathe app on your phone allows you to track sickness absences from anywhere.

Report sickness, or enable your team to report their own sicknesses.

You can even create a new sickness type, ‘COVID-19 sickness’, for example, if you like to report on the detail of your employee’s sickness.

Communicate with your team

Breathe makes communicating with everyone so easy with its Company Announcements feature.

Share any new important information using this tool. Your people will see this on their dashboard when they next log in, especially important for furloughed employees or those working remotely from home. The system emails everyone to notify there is an announcement.

Low cost, and definitely a brilliant return on your investment

Breathe is one of the most cost-effective HR software packages on the market. Think if all the valuable operational time you will be saving.

Annual licenses start at £108 for up to 10 employees, £227 for 11 to 20 employees, and £583 for up to 50 employees.

We totally understand that no SME wants to be making big investments with the current, hopefully temporary climate, but we are certain you will see big returns on the small outlay you make.

Plus, you can try before you buy and take out a free 14-day trial, no strings attached, or try our fully populated demo account (with dummy data) so you can see how the system will work.

Store information in one place

Breathe stores all your people-data in one secure place, including personal information, job details, salaries, emergency contacts and so much more.

And as Breathe is cloud based, you can access this from anywhere.

Breathe are ISO27001 accredited, so you can rest assured that your data is in safe hands.

With everything in one place, you’ll have everything you need at a click of a button.

Store medical information

Store all important medical information for your people, especially those who are at higher risk of severe illness if they catch COVID-19.

You can also run a handy report to get any medical information that you need.

Easily access contact details

Communication is more important than ever in these testing times. You can download spreadsheets for mail merging letters.

Breathe makes keeping in touch that little bit easier by storing all contact details in one place.

Check in on your people, keep them up to date with the latest developments and continue working collaboratively as a team.

Keep remote employees engaged and motivated

Keeping your employees engaged during these difficult times can be a challenge.

But with Breathe’s Kudos tool, you can praise your people and say “thank you” for their hard work.

Make them feel valued, let them know they are still a valued team member and that working remotely they may be out of sight, keep them engaged with their role and the business updates. Giving praise to your employees is ever more important if they are working remotely. Help them to feel included.

Monitor performance remotely

Breathe’s performance module allows you to set objectives and deliverables for your team to work towards, which you can mark as completed when they’re met.

You can also schedule remote one-to-ones and performance reviews to check in with them, discuss any areas of difficulty and set goals going forward.

Keep track of where people are working

Are a few of your team are working from home, but some essential workers are still on the premises? Breathe makes it super-easy to keep tabs on your team’s locations. 

The location tracker allows your people to set their own locations, including working from home. You can also record the members of your team that are furloughed.

Locations will then show up next to profiles to keep you in the loop. 

Track office equipment, furniture and laptops etc.

If your team are working remotely due to COVID-19, it’s useful to collate a list of who’s got what – whether that’s laptops, extra computer screens or office chairs.

Luckily, in Breathe you can keep track of the equipment that’s been taken home, the date it was given and when it’s returned. You can also add notes with any asset numbers etc.

Find out more

If you’d like to learn more about how Breathe can help you, call us on 0118 324 2526, we are here to make your life easier.

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