The Make UK Manufacturing Outlook for Q2 2024 discussed how the cost of food, fuels and other materials remains elevated, especially when compared to the average price of goods a few years ago. In food manufacturing, add to this the cost implications of the post-Brexit EU import regulatory changes, forecast to cost British businesses £330 million annually and increase food inflation by 0.2 percentage points over three years.
In this environment, food manufacturers are looking to invest in efficiency-enhancing technologies, cracking down on preventable profit leaks.
Increasing the cost-effectiveness of your people management function is one way you can grow through cost control as a food manufacturer.
Sources of preventable profit losses:
- Buddy clocking
Buddy clocking or punching is a practice of time-theft. It involves a teammate clocking in for another as a favor, to falsify time records. What might seem harmless mounts up, meaning employers end up wasting money paying for time that their employees haven’t worked.
- Absences
A recent survey revealed that UK businesses can lose £138.3 billion a year in absences, amounting to an average 49.7 days per employee lost due to poor health. Unscheduled absences can disrupt production schedules, leading to delays and increased operational costs. Though some employee absences are inevitable, there are ways you can minimise the damage.
- Payroll inaccuracies
UK businesses are losing up to £150,000 a year through payroll errors, according to research. This will be through overpaying employees and erroneous retroactive payments, but also through lost time – with 80 per cent of businesses reporting to spend at least 12 hours per month on the correction of payroll errors, amounting to 18 days per business per year.
The solutions:
- Biometric clocking – avoid buddy clocking
Biometric clocking ensures that employees are physically present, removing the capability for buddy clocking. OneAdvanced’s T2 clocking device using facial recognition and fingerprint biometrics, meaning that there is no way for employees to clock in on each other’s behalf. It also speeds up the process, able to clock in each team member in under 5 seconds.
These clocks are perfect for a food manufacturing environment, as they are food-prep and bio safe, support latex gloves and come with waterproof cabling.
- Managing absences with Time and Attendance
Gaining a better grasp of absences in a business, by managing them using time and attendance software, helps you optimise your workforce. For planned absences, organisations can look ahead and ensure there are no drops in productivity, while also putting in contingency plans in the case of unplanned absences.
Employees can take control of their absence requests, log sickness and check holiday requests with OneAdvanced’s Time and Attendance, as well as choosing from a range of accurate absence reasons. By empowering your employees to log their own absence information and gathering this in a coherent system, you foster a culture of responsibility. Your HR staff can also manage absences from a position of total oversight, with all the information they need at their fingertips. This software provides real-time data, enabling managers to make informed decisions to maintain productivity.
- Strong Payroll software
Choosing a payroll solution that removes complexity from payroll processes reduces the chance of costly mistakes. It makes paying your employees simpler and easier to get right.
You can rely on OneAdvanced’s Payroll to pay your people correctly and on time. By automating repetitive tasks like payslip delivery and validation checks, you also use your people resource wisely, letting your payroll professionals spend more time focusing on strategic tasks. Even more complex calculations resulting from pay reforms or paternity leave changes are facilitated by regular releases of our HMRC-recognised product – reducing the chance of errors as your team get used to new rules.
Addressing personnel-related inefficiencies in food production is crucial for maintaining profitability and operational excellence. By adopting biometric facial recognition clocking, advanced absence management tools, and strong payroll solutions, you can significantly reduce profit leaks and enhance overall efficiency.
Ready to take your food production efficiency to the next level? Start implementing these solutions today and notice the positive impact on your bottom line. For more guidance, contact us now.