How 20x automatically logs staff working hours with its timesheet portal and app:

“Admin overload is leaving business decision makers feeling overwhelmed and stressed, finds research.

Some 80 per cent of business decision-makers and 90 percent of executives say they have had to spend time outside working hours to catch up on their work administrative tasks, with more than a third (35 per cent) admitting they have let their family down as a result of this admin overload.”

Although this quote is a few years old it is something that most people who are trying to run successful companies can relate to.  There is so much repetitive administration to get through and as soon as you have finished one task another task is already waiting for you.  Furthermore, by the time you’ve finished your admin tasks it’s nearly always time to start all over again. 

This relentless cycle has resulted in many people turning to computers and software for solutions and we at 20X are ready to help you to revolutionise many of your most time consuming tasks into either systems that take a fraction of the time or even seemingly automated systems. 

We receive a lot of feedback from our clients and potential clients and one pinch point is managing timesheets systems.

Our 20X timesheet portal and timesheet app will amaze you with how easy it is to use as well as by how much time it will save you.

Our timesheet system enables:

  • Staff to clock in and out from the app on their phone
    • This logs the hours they have worked 
    • This can capture the location they clocked in from
  • The portal to automatically collate everyone’s hours worked
    • The system uses the data collected by the app
    • The system can automatically calculate pay
  • The checking of hours worked
    • The timesheet portal will enable you to quickly check the length of the shift against the hours logged by the staff member
  • The signing off of timesheets
    • The portal shows the hours works
    • The portal shows the timesheets or a managements signature
    • After a brief review timesheets can be processed individually or in bulk

The 20X timesheet portal and timesheet app are sector leading – they save our clients hundreds of hours per year by vastly reducing and automating otherwise very repetitive tasks.  

20X could do the same for you, freeing you up to concentrate on making your business the very best it can be.  Why not book a demo today. 

Healthcare Technology Development

Something that’s often a topic of conversation and political debate is the question of whether technology is ‘taking our jobs’.

Modern-day advances in technology, engineering, and automation have certainly left many of us questioning future job security in some sectors, including healthcare. 

With plenty of companies being quick to either take up new technologies or build their own, some traditional workforces are left feeling understandably uneasy. Workers with years of experience, loyalty, and industry know-how can quickly be made to feel redundant in the face of expected changes from increasing automated processes such as replacement of manual roles, cuts to work hours, streamlining of workforces, and reduction in costs.

The industrial revolution is perhaps the prime example of a huge progression and change in the way people worked and it ended up shaping the future. Whole industries were revolutionised on a massive scale, resulting in increases in efficiency and productivity that few had previously dreamed of. Mind-boggling machines and equipment were developed that could do the work of more people in less time and new opportunities, processes, and businesses sprang up as a result.

Understandably, we can often be fearful of change, fearful of a shift away from the status-quo, from what we’ve known. It can be so comforting to stick to our regular routines and processes, knowing that they’ve both worked day in day out for years and, ultimately, get the job done. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ – or so they say! Yet this thinking can stall our companies’ progress, creating stagnancy, and be costly when we’re left behind in the market because we don’t have the ability to keep up with a client or consumer needs.

Forbes Magazine journalist David Vasko writes: 

“Technology is changing how we work. It eliminates tasks and creates remarkable tools that provide what would have been considered superpowers not long ago. The challenge, however, becomes understanding which opportunities will provide the greatest benefit. The solution is to understand the impact of disruptive technologies, so that you can better understand how they will impact you, your company and your customers.”

The integration of technology, software, and certain automated processes into existing work processes needn’t be intimidating. They can be seamlessly introduced to daily ways of working without leaving our staff feeling like their roles are under threat.

Advances in technology and software can often act as a welcome support for overworked employees by making existing processes more efficient and so easing the burden of heavy workloads. Why let a team struggle spending hours completing a task that can now be done easier and faster thanks to technological developments?

Repetitive and time consuming tasks have the potential to not only drain staff energy, but also erode concentration and focus. For example, the integration of efficient software into existing processes for completing complex and/or sensitive financial tasks such as preparing accounts and invoices can save time and reduce errors.

A shift away from manual processes, physical files, and paperwork is supported by emerging software that allows many companies to work more efficiently and cost-effectively. Hours spent trawling through physical administration records, manually searching for documents and organising and managing loose papers whilst trying to keep everything safe doesn’t have to be the norm anymore!

New technological processes and ideas are constantly being created to make things easier and more efficient. Most companies now use some form of software or automated processes, wondering how they ever managed beforehand! Useful technology doesn’t distract from the work at hand, it improves it. It can improve the speed and efficiency of your processes, your bottom line, your staff’s job satisfaction, and your business’s ability to grow, adapt and meet the demands of your industry.

Useful software can create additional time – an invaluable asset that can be used to increase productivity and diversify your working week. If you can streamline your processes effectively by automating the majority of the usual workload, any spare time created can be focussed on business development, client retention, marketing, networking, growth and progression. Or simply give you and your staff an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of your labour and take a break!

20X is the perfect example of such a healthcare technology development; It can be used to revolutionise and streamline a vast amount of traditionally manual work in the healthcare staffing sector. 

20X is cloud-based, progressive and customisable staff management software that works like an app and delivers in cutting down time-consuming processes that are all too familiar in this industry. From quick and easy data migration from your current software system (if you use one), through to initial set-up, navigation and management, 20X offers a simple solution to your staffing needs. With the ability to automate the bulk of traditionally manual processes, 20X gives you the ability to shave hours of time from your team’s current workload.

Industry knowledge and experience is vital, so maybe it’s time to let technology deal with those admin jobs, allowing you to prioritise using your business’s assets and adapt to the evolving marketplace in ways that will only bring you benefits!

Features of 20X Staffing Agency Software that help in CQC Compliance and General Client Confidence

20X, the UK’s number 1 staffing agency software, comes with a number of features that help to make fundamentally positive impacts on care quality and safety – thus achieving a favourable outlook from CQC inspectors.

  1. 20X has a robust and fully online, app-based staff registration system. 
  • The registration captures all relevant staff information including their qualifications/training, work experience, skills, and specialties as well as full background checks. 
  • The app-based system alerts the staff in real-time to keep their registrations and compliance documents up to date. This is achieved through expiry warnings. 
  • Any member of staff failing to keep compliance data up-to-date is automatically alerted to the agency management, enabling their deactivation or other necessary action to be taken from within the system. Once a member of staff is deactivated, they won’t be able to accept any new shifts until they satisfactorily meet compliance requirements and bring their account fully up to speed.
  1. 20X staffing agency software alerts the management and staff members with upcoming training, DBS and  Right To Work expiry dates to enable them to take proactive action before getting barred from the agency.
  2. The system has features in place to record any complaints and incidents received from a care provider where a staff member has worked. It provides a full audit trail of activities about their shifts and employment.
  3. An agency can give permission to a care provider to give reviews and ratings for staff members. This serves as a useful tool to encourage a positive working attitude and hard work. At the same time, agencies can be notified about poorly performing staff, enabling necessary corrective action to be taken.
  4. 20X has a comprehensive set of reports for management information to take preventive and corrective actions. For example, 20X can provide a report for a particular staff member with all their reviews, admin notes and any corrective actions taken to date. It can also produce a full audit trail of activities, work history, document expiry and more – for a specific member of staff or even for the entire staff pool of the agency.

20X addresses the 5 Key Questions related to staff that CQC generally look into:

Are they safe? 

The agency is equipped to put in place a rigorous background checks system for all staff members. 20X makes this easy. The staff background checks built into 20X require that the staff have a valid DBS, Right to Work and NMC (where applicable). It also ensures that they are suitably qualified, with adequate training and work experience.

Are they effective?

In ensuring the effectiveness of care services, CQC inspectors are dedicated to seeing that all  care, treatment, and support ‘achieves good outcomes, helps you to maintain quality of life and is based on the best available evidence.’ 20X provides robust staff compliance procedures in order to ensure top-quality care and the best possible outcomes.

Are they caring? 

CQC expects staff to ‘involve and treat you with compassion, kindness, dignity, and respect and those are the high standards they are checking for. The 20X software provides tools and processes enabling more effective recruitment, management of interviews and final staff selection. This empowers staffing agencies to select and employ staff with adequate experience; references are obtained through the 20X system.

Are they responsive to people’s needs? 

Services are organised so that they meet the needs of the care organisation and their service recipients – the residents. This can be achieved through a concerted effort of the agency management, the care organisation and the staff members. 20X software helps to achieve this through a range of measures, including a powerful feature that gives priority to staff members who have previously worked in a specific care home or hospital – enabling continuity of care.

Are they well-led? 

CQC says it wants to ensure that the leadership, management, and governance of an  organisation is achieving ‘high-quality care that’s based around your individual needs, that it encourages learning and innovation, and that it promotes an open and fair culture.’ 20X is designed to help its users reach and maintain these high standards through a variety of in-built features. For example, the admin user rights allow the agency management to coordinate admin staff to ever higher degrees of complexity – allocating them just the right mix of duties for the relevant department, while senior management is freed up to focus squarely on business matters.

The most robust agency management software helps you to build a finely-tuned organisation in an age where businesses are expected to handle vast and confusing quantities of data and regulation. Now you can let the 20X software take care of it all for you.

Potential Impacts of IR35 for Nursing & Care Agencies and 7 Steps to Overcome them.

Understanding IR35

IR35 is the short version of the UK tax legislation that is designed to identify contractors and businesses who avoid paying the appropriate tax by working as masked employees – or those who have self-employed workers who mask their true employment status. The legislation was supposed to be put into action in April 2020. However, due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, the government postponed this. It is now expected to become law in April 2021.

IR35 rules assess whether or not someone who is working for a business as a contractor is fulfilling the same role as an employee in that business. If it is deemed that a contractor is performing the same role as an employee, they are considered to be ‘inside IR35’.

If a contractor is considered to be inside the IR35 category, HMRC then surely categorises them as an employee and ultimately deems them liable to pay Income Tax and National Insurance.

Public and Private sector changes

In 2017, for the public sector, individual responsibility for determining tax status completely shifted from themselves to the organisation employing that individual. This meant that most public sector organisations determined that the majority of their agency workers (including most nurses) fell inside the IR35 bracket. They would now be categorised as ‘employed’ for tax purposes.

Post-April 2021, the government rules will be applicable in the private sector too for companies deemed to be large or medium-sized. Large or medium-sized meant any business with more than 50 employees and with a revenue of more than £10.2M. Most care homes would belong under the ‘large group’ category.

Potential Impacts of IR35 for Nursing & Care Agencies

If caught by IR35, the ‘deemed employees’, the ‘contractors or intermediary’ (meaning the limited company the employee sets up), and the firms hiring them (in this case the Nursing & Care Agency) have to pay income tax and NICs.

The financial impact of IR35 can be significant as it can reduce the worker’s take-home pay by up to 25%, costing the typical limited company contractor (and the agency that employs the contractor) thousands of pounds in additional income tax and NICs.

As the care agency sector is already operating on thin margins – especially in the private sector – the potential impact of IR35 could be catastrophic for them. Their long-term survival post-IR35 has been thrown into doubt. Many agencies will fail to operate as a viable and profitable business if adequate measures are not put in place.

Here are 7 steps that can help to overcome any 1R35 impact on your business

  1. Avoid coming under HMRC radar negatively – To stay on the right side of the law, you should take care to properly audit your employment practices – and make sure that all your temporary and contract staff are within IR35.
  2. Negotiate better rates from your clients – Since your employment costs are going to go up by at least 25% for the temporary staff, try to negotiate better rates for your business from your suppliers – whether they are hospitals, care homes, or the local council. It is a task that is easier said than done. Chances are that some of your suppliers may not entertain these requests, as they themselves are under increasing pressure to keep costs down. Nevertheless, you may find some understanding suppliers who are prepared to work with you here – after all, it’s in their own interests that you remain in business and continue to operate for profit.
  3. Adopt cost-saving measures for your business Streamline your business operations to maximise your profit. This is where many businesses are failing. There are some areas where businesses can minimise waste and tackle excessive spending. You need to make sure that each area is as efficient and highly optimised as possible if you are serious about meeting your ongoing business needs.
  4. Improve efficiency by going digital – Agencies can easily make use of care agency software like 20X to automate a lot of mundane business activities like staff documentation, timesheet management, invoice creation, and other details. There are examples of agencies that adopted modern agency management software and saved thousands on their budget by cutting down expenses massively.
  5. Inform and train your employees to determine accurate IR35 status – Gather ample information to understand IR35 status. All businesses need to showcase how they have taken reasonable care in their assessments. HMRC will look at the size of the business and assess how much time, effort, and cost they have put into getting this right.
  6. Consult an accountant or an expert in IR35 – You can use HMRC’s online tool Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) to know for sure whether a worker should be categorised as the company employed or self-employed for tax purposes.

Use care agency software tools to help make process changes according to IR35 – Consult with care agency software providers like 20X to see and understand how it would be updated in their systems to reflect the change within the legislation.

How to Choose The Best Software for Your Care Agency?

In today’s digital era, many characteristics of medical healthcare practices (including care staffing and care management) are handled by software systems. Modern care agency staffing software has taken over most of the mundane rhythms of managing employees, shifts, invoicing, patient information, documentation and other tasks.

Selecting the right care agency software that best tailors your care agency’s challenging needs has become a significant decision for your business. The software should have features that allow you to document, schedule, and manage shifts, as well as handling all communications (including staff notifications), simply and efficiently. If you’re able to find software that also equips you to manage complex recruitment needs, you could be on to a winning path for your business.

To ensure the staffing and recruitment is effortless and successful, in addition to running your agency with minimal administrative input, it’s critical to choose the best care agency software available in the market.

Some of the essential features of an ideal care agency software are:

Features of an efficient care agency software

  1. The system should enable a natural recruitment process. From the initial staff registration all the way through to document uploading, onboarding and vetting, you need a system that is logical, user-friendly and no-nonsense. 
  2. Since the care staff must upload several care certificates and related documents, the online experience should be addressed uniquely – but without exhausting the potential employee. Otherwise there is a risk that frustrated applicants may leave the process to search for more effortless alternatives.
  3. For the staff member to view available shifts, accept shifts, and achieve full clarity regarding their upcoming and completed shifts.
  4. The agency should accept shifts from nursing homes and hospitals and allocate them to staff members based on times that are convenient for them. 
  5. To have an availability calendar which the staff can update, and which the agency can look at directly from their admin interface. Ideally the agency needs to be able to view – at a glance – the whole list of employees available to take up a shift.
  6. To handle last-minute shift requirements from clients and allocate them rapidly along with instant notifications to staff and care homes.
  7. The software should handle expiry warnings of mandatory documents to both the staff member and the agency administrator on time, providing efficiency in communicating changes and notifications.
  8. The software system should be intuitive and straightforward to use. Although seemingly unimportant, this will often turn out to be the most compelling feature for agencies. Some existing software solutions involve highly cumbersome data input.

To help address these difficulties within the nursing care agency sector, Crown Software Solutions Ltd. assembled a team of experts, including software developers, nurses, carers, and care managers. Together they developed a modern software package called 20X that encompasses all of the above features and many more—combining all the crucial elements in pursuit of the ideal care agency software solution. If you are ready to take the next step in growing and streamlining your agency operation with a modern software system, contact 20X today for a free no-obligation demo!