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I am working with some colleagues on an Appraisal System for our company - a control systems company. This new system includes Annual Appraisals and Project Management - we are piloting the system and our HR department advised employees to go to the system and enter in relevant Project Details so our system would have accurate and relevant Project Data for the employees.

One engineer may typically work on a Project for around 6-7 months, so the job is not a big thing for them.

However, when I was looking into who hadn't submitted these items, I noticed a lot of those individuals were Apprentices and Shop Floor workers etc. These cases present a problem for a few reasons:

  1. Shop Floor staff all have user accounts, but share computers, usually around 10-20 people per computer, and are mainly used for stock taking or filling in time-sheet information;
  2. Shop Floor staff are much more fluid in the transitions between projects, whilst I myself may not work on more than 2-3 projects a year, a shop floor worker may be working on many projects at the same time.

So I was trying to figure out a way to collect the Project Information from these shop floor staff employees with reasonable accuracy and without interrupting the shop floor work too much - they are very busy people!

However, I am unsure of how to go about this, I need the following information from people regarding:

  • Contract Number
  • Role within the Project
  • Duration of involvement including start and end dates
  • Whether they worked full time or part time

So if anyone has any good techniques for this or has encountered a similar problem, I would be very appreciative of any insight/advice.

Thanks!

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This is a bit of a large question - it's really asking us to spec the system for you. Also I don't really understand why you need to get that information directly from the employees themselves - isn't the personnel / HR department going to have this information already? It looks like basic contract details. – JonW♦ Feb 7 at 10:52
Well we have limited information from our timesheets system, but all it covers is the hours of a given week spent on a contract by contract number, it doesn't give us a concise figure on how long was spent, the idea was to let each individual tell us the information, rather than have one unlucky person get the information themselves. We also have no idea what role they played in a given project. We know the role they are in the company, but they might fulfil a different role working day to day. The timesheets don't give us this information. – Felix Weir Feb 7 at 11:04
It seems that you need to update your timesheets system adding necessary data. Adding one more system definitely results in negative reaction from personnel. – Serg Feb 7 at 11:25
Don't get the information from the timesheets or the employees, get it from HR directly as that's what it's going to be used for. When an employee signs a contract then it will detail their contract number, FT/PT status, job title, contract length. I still don't see why you need to get this from the employees directly. They shouldn't be punished for not filling in their employee record correctly when it's not their job to do so - they've done that already by applying for the job and signing a contract. – JonW♦ Feb 7 at 12:10
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I think there has been some confusion - I am referring to contracts that the company has taken on for clients - which the employees here are assigned to. I do not mean the employment contracts. – Felix Weir Feb 7 at 13:51
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Everything can’t be solved using an application. As in this case where users don’t really have access to a computer, and to be quite frank – are suspected every time they are anywhere near a desktop PC. Yes, that’s the social control of shop floor works. I know since I’ve been a Shop Floor manager for more than five years.

The second thing to remember in this application is the possible benefit of entering records. Are there any for these blue collars (BC)? What can they gain from entering records in the appraisal system compared to the cost (social control)?

Too many vague variables lurking around – so I thing you need to leave the system as is and instead interview each and every one of the BCs to get a clear picture, and compete records in the system. It’s a mighty work, I know, but this is the only way to get everyone to participate.

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