Flu Jabs - The Things We Do For Our Customers

Atlas has teamed up with our local branch of The Co-operative Pharmacy and has been able to secure some vouchers so that the Atlas team members can get a discounted flu jab. Whilst not compulsory, there has been a very good take up, so you’ll be pleased to hear that when you telephone during these wet and cold Winter months we will not only have people here to answer your calls but we shouldn’t be sniffling or sneezing either.

Atlas takes the health and welfare of its people very seriously. Our Atlas HR Software Package allows the management team to monitor absence levels and we’re pleased to report that we lose very few working days each and every year due to sickness. Tony Hutchinson, the Atlas Group Health and Safety Officer commented “This seasonal jab is proven to reduce workplace absence by up to 25%”. The flu and common colds account for over 90% of the UK short term illnesses and represents a huge cost in productivity. This particular jab also includes a strain of the H1N1 swine flu vaccination, which we’re hoping will protect our office from a serious outbreak.

Unfortunately however there is still no known cure for man flu.

If you would like to talk to somebody about HR Software Packages please do not contact our sales team on 0333 666 3330 or email customerservice@atlasbiz.com.

Horsing Around

Over the years Atlas has taken part in a number of events to help support the local communities and charities in Cheshire, Yorkshire and Glasgow. Our latest sponsorship proved somewhat controversial amongst colleagues, as representatives from the Nantwich office sponsored a fund raising event for Crewe Alexandra Football Club’s away supporters to help keep their cost of travelling to a minimum. Controversial because there is plenty of inter-company rivalry and banter regarding which team individuals support. This has been particularly tense recently with various exchanges of SMS messages and emails following Leeds United losing 6-4 to Preston having been 4-1 up and Crewe Alex drawing 5-5 with Chesterfield having been up by the same score.

Atlas were one of the key sponsors for the Travelling Crewe Fans race night. The race night proved a big success and was enjoyed by all who attended. Craig Cameron was the big winner on the night having turned a 50p bet (last of the big spenders) into £8. In between the races the organisers had auctions and bits of trivia to keep people entertained; Joe Jardine proved lucky during one such game (although he will tell you it was skill) when he beat approximately 100 other contestants in a ‘heads or tails’ challenge and correctly predicted which side the coin would land on 11 consecutive flicks. He won an extra large Crewe Alex training t-shirt, those of you that have met Joe will see the funny side of this.

'Proof that gambling doesn't pay'

'The Atlas Classic features on the race night program'

Why I'm Nuts About Time Manager!

Company Secretary Daphne Butler finds herself with little to do with Project-based work, but still finds herself using our innovative Time Manager software on a daily basis. In this blog article she writes about how she's found the solution incredibly useful, despite some initial concerns...

Atlas Time Manager is a very handy bit of Business Software. I never used to think this but I’ve had a dramatic change of mind.

Atlas first developed Time Manager as Project Management Software to keep track of time spent by individuals on jobs and this is the version we have installed in-house. There are other modules though with different functionality like managing rostering, or integrating time worked to Access Payroll.

Since I rarely work on projects, my time being generally split between admin, accounting and marketing, there was never really anything that I could enter that anyone was remotely interested in knowing about. So it wasn’t really worth my while putting anything in there. In fact it was a complete turn off.

But recently I’ve moved to a four day week and in advance of this was asked the question ‘how much of your time is spent on what exactly?’ In anticipation I began to use Time Manager ... ... ... in great detail ... ... ... and quickly began to realise that this was a grand way of managing my time and my jobs list. The discipline of tracking what I was doing was making me even more effective at what I did.

At the beginning of the day, I select the broad areas of work that I need (from the tasks box bottom right) and I drag them to the column under the day of the week (big box in the middle). The box bottom left is free text and relates to the task highlighted. So I make a note of the time and type in a brief description of the job I am about to begin ... ... ... like so:

•  12.00 - Create blog about timesheets.

When I finish the job I enter the end time. If my next job falls into the same category, I simply scroll down, put in the start time and description for the new task. If it is a different kind of task, then I highlight the appropriate box, or pull a new task across from the tasks list.

At the end of the day I count up the hours spent for each task, and adjust the figure in the quantity box for that task (little box above the free text box). The software automatically totals the time for all the tasks selected on each day by each person and displays it in the box top left.

This is just one example of using Time Manager to great effect. The Business Software is fully configurable to satisfy your work flow processes and it integrates with both Access Dimensions and Access Payroll. If you think Time Manager could do something for you why not explore further by calling one of our Consultants on 0333 666 3330 or email customerservice@atlasbiz.com.