Successful implementation of Yaware – Ukrdipromez

The company has around three hundred employees. Conventionally, these employees can be divided into groups: the production department (they develop documentation for customers), the supply and support department.

How about the pandemic, are you working remotely or in the office?

The lockdown announcement created a serious problem. So that people could come to work, the company organized the transportation of employees. Unlike modern companies that attract only young specialists, Ukrgipromez employs people of age with a high risk of getting infected.

With the increase in the incidence rate at the beginning of the pandemic, it was decided to send the majority of workers to remote work and provide equipment for it. Most people now work in the office. Vaccination was also carried out in two stages: employees received a vaccine to protect their health.

Ukrgipromez is a socially conscious company that has organized and structurally approached the moral and organizational support of employees during the pandemic.

Why did the company decide to implement a time tracker?

The Institute was founded in the Soviet Union. Currently, the company is developing, a policy is being pursued to encourage new personnel and retain valuable personnel with experience in this enterprise.

«In order for us to be able to analyze which of the employees pay more attention to work tasks and deserve additional motivation and an increase in wages, we decided to “measure the temperature” of the company – who works how. How to pay a person a big salary? It is necessary to show that the employee is doing quality work and digitize the working day. It is important for us that a person effectively uses working time: he solves problems, and not just sits out days at work»  

What has changed since the introduction of the time tracker?

Ukrgipromez has just started its way of using Yaware after the trial period. The program was installed on 60 computers, which is ⅓ of the total number of jobs. Further scaling of the program is planned: installation of a tracker for employees working remotely. Everything has just begun, but we are sure it’s a great work that it will lead to qualitative changes.

«People need to understand that the situation is changing. How does a company that does not have a digitized system evaluate the work of employees? There is a department head who can defend an employee, or give a subjective assessment, which sounds something like this: “good”, “bad”, “we will pull it up a little”. Such an assessment is not constructive»

Sergii Parubets noted that it is difficult for the head of units to work like this, because one must fully rely on the assessment of the head of the department. The manager cannot say that some employee works poorly. That is a feature of people, people support each other, they will not say bad things about anyone. Accordingly, targeted work with an employee is carried out by the boss only on his own initiative.

“We have people in our company who have been working for 10, 20, 40 years. Accordingly, a lot of them continue to work in the way they got used to long ago. Unfortunately, the speed and activity of an employee is not always the same, it can change in the process. A subjective assessment is not always suitable, a digital one is needed. In this case, not only the number of hours spent at work, but also the number of tasks solved will be taken into account. In order to discipline some employees, you still need to “measure the temperature” of everyone at the same time, sometimes point-wise to prompt, guide, and give specific recommendations for each employee and a separate department,” Sergii said.

«Social changes have just begun, now people are realizing that they will have to change, to be more responsible about working time. Also the moment of remote work: it is sometimes difficult for people to concentrate, we all understand this. The point was discussed when choosing a system that a person cannot work eight hours tirelessly. This is mental work – a person must take breaks, change the intensity of work. You can even open a game, watch a video – this is also allowed. You need to approach it with understanding. If a person has not done any work at all during the day, then this is a problem. If they work in certain stages, having organized their time in such a way, this is normal. This tool does not make a decision, the person still makes the decision, but you need to measure the temperature.»

The company strives to evaluate work fairly. Those who work more than others and with high quality have the right to receive more. Those who are not loaded with work or work less are paid accordingly.

Ukrgipromez raises a number of important issues: from the correct assessment, motivation of staff to an equivalent exchange between the company and the employee. It is also about the fact that decisions are made by people, not tools. This allows you to make reasoned decisions and build an effective system of work.

How did employees perceive the use of Yaware? How did you communicate, how did you prepare, how did it happen?

In 2012-2013, the company implemented systems that fought against information leaks, since Ukrgipromez has a large number of unique developments and knowledge. They used the development of the Belarusian counterinformation security company. Unfortunately, we were able to buy a small number of licenses, since the system is quite expensive. In addition, the company cannot purchase any program, as it is a state-owned company and must comply with the list of restrictions and recommendations of the Ukrainian security service.

We used the Mirobase system, bought up to 30 licenses. The system was difficult to scale and measure results. It was difficult for the head of the department to analyze the reports, devoting no more than 10 minutes per week or month. The program is quite complex.

“If you need to control hundreds of employees, then 20-30 licenses are not enough. The program must be installed at all workplaces so that employees do not feel social inequality, ”Sergii shared.

As for the introduction of the time tracker itself, the enterprise acted gradually. Employees were explained that the system was needed to fairly evaluate work and time. Fairness is important. During working hours, a person should be engaged in work tasks.

«Fairness, in my opinion, in the evaluation of work is extremely important, especially for professional and valuable employees. It offends when one works little, the other works a lot and they receive approximately the same salary – this demotivates, leads to the fact that the best personnel leave. This is a big danger for businesses that have a “brain»

What made you choose Yaware?

«The Yaware system has simple reports that we have already begun to call “sausage”. A sausage is drawn in a day – red or green. It's easy to analyze it. Open a report for the week, the current day, both for the employee and for the department, and see these sausages – here, even five minutes will be enough to navigate the situation.»  

Sergii Parubets noted that it is convenient for the company to work with SAAS. There is no need to have servers within the company, to keep personnel who will maintain these servers, configure, deploy, deal with various problems. The system is suitable for all work formats: office, remote or hybrid.

What advice can you give to entrepreneurs who are looking for a similar time tracking system?

Sergii Parubets noted that in theory it is difficult to decide on the choice of program. Everything has to be tested. Yaware offers 14 days of free trial period. It is better to install the program on big number of computers. Based on the generated reports, management will evaluate and see the need for the program. Or reject the implementation if the enterprise has other tasks.

The company Ukrgipromez considered for comparison a free system for recording working hours. It has a drawback – a person must press the button himself and indicate what work he is doing. During the test period, we found that the workers do not want to record activity, they do not need it. Therefore, the companies chose the path of an automatic system: they started using the Yaware system, which itself records activities during the working day. The employee does not need to take any action.

The advantage of Yaware is that the program works autonomously. The employee does not need to make unnecessary movements and press “start-stop”.

«It is necessary to convey to the management the information that people do not need to be punished by this system. It should be an assistant and an important tool for convenience, support for the work of the organization. The time tracker should not be a sword of Damocles hanging over an employee and stating the fact that at any moment a person can be punished. Employees are the backbone of an enterprise. The time tracker should help, promote development and influence the receipt of rewards for the efforts fairly invested in the company.»