U-Clock offers employers a way out of a tricky situation by allowing simple cost-effective monitoring of remote staff.

Many employers were reasonable with their staffs working hours during the World Cup but despite this, it was predicted that British companies would lose millions in revenue during the tournament due to employee absenteeism.

Although official figures are yet to be published, it was predicted that 15 per cent of the working population planned to take sick days to catch every match during the world’s biggest soccer competition*. Most companies took a sensible view and reached an agreement to enable the football fans amongst their workforce to watch the matches without impacting their businesses but for those in industries such as Engineering and Construction where a large percentage of staff work remotely from head office, the issue was far more problematic.

The solution to this problem and monitoring remote staffs movements and whereabouts generally, comes in the shape of U-Clock; a simple cost-effective way of allowing staff to “clock on” at remote sites using only their mobile phones. Employers can ensure they are on site when they should be and easily monitor hours worked. This removes any arguments from the equation and allows remote staff to be managed exactly as those in the office.

By kind chance (and our early exit!) only the third England group game against Slovenia fell during most people’s normal working hours, at 3pm, meaning much less than the predicted £1 billion was lost by British businesses**. However, U-Clock MD, Jamie McCann believes much more could have been saved had companies used their product. He says, “The U-Clock device leaves no doubt as to an employee’s location at any given time. The vast majority of employers have a trustworthy workforce but at times like the World Cup and particularly during England matches, this trust can be breached and so for managers wanting to check the whereabouts of their remote staff, U-Clock would have been the answer.”

The U-Clock was one of five products shortlisted for the 2010 Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Innovation award. McCann commented “I own a ventilation installation company and have staff working all over the country. We came up with the idea of U-Clock to solve a big problem we had monitoring our installation teams. It’s simple, low-cost and easily transferred from site-to-site and we’re extremely proud to have been shortlisted for the GMCC Innovation Award, if not a little disappointed to have missed out on the top prize.”

For more information please visit: http://www.u-clock.co.uk/